Scientists from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) used data from NASA’s New Horizons with data from ESA’s Rosetta mission in order to create a new model for Pluto’s formation.
Dr. Christopher Glein of SWRI’s Space Science and Engineering Division said, “We’ve developed what we call ‘the giant comet’ cosmochemical model of Pluto formation.”
At the heart of the research is the nitrogen-rich ice in Sputnik Planitia, a large glacier that forms the left lobe of the bright Pluto’s surface.
“We found an intriguing consistency between the estimated amount of nitrogen inside the glacier and the amount that would be expected if Pluto was formed by the agglomeration of roughly a billion comets or other Kuiper Belt objects similar in chemical composition to 67P, the comet explored by Rosetta.”
Scientists also formed a solar model in which Pluto was formed from very cold ice that would have a chemical composition matching that of the sun.
Not only was the nitrogen present in Pluto in its atmosphere and glaciers, but it also leaked out into the atmosphere and into space over thousands of years.
They then needed to reconcile the proportion of carbon monoxide to nitrogen to get a more complete picture. Ultimately, the low abundance of carbon monoxide at Pluto points to burial in surface ices or to destruction from liquid water.
“Our research suggests that Pluto’s initial chemical makeup, inherited from cometary building blocks, was chemically modified by liquid water, perhaps even in a subsurface ocean,” Glein said.
Though the solar model does face some of its own issues, this cannot be answered yet.
“This research builds upon the fantastic successes of the New Horizons and Rosetta missions to expand our understanding of the origin and evolution of Pluto,” said Glein.
“Using chemistry as a detective’s tool, we are able to trace certain features we see on Pluto today to formation processes from long ago.
This leads to a new appreciation of the richness of Pluto’s ‘life story,’ which we are only starting to grasp.”
With increasing expeditions into space and new data coming in every day, more and more research of this nature helps us understand the very.