NASA has just revealed to the public that Pluto, the dwarf planet has just emitted x-ray bursts into outer space. The phenomenon was observed thanks to the Chandra X-ray Observatory commissioned by NASA.
The observatory is a powerful telescope that is made to observe any X-ray emissions that is present in the high-temperature regions of the galaxy. The new information obtained would surely increase man's knowledge on the ice planet located in the distant region of the Solar System.
According to Carey Lisse, an astrophysicist from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the X-ray emission was the first time that such an activity was observed and is originating from the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is the place that many asteroids, comets and huge chunks of rock and ice are floating.
Before the recently discovered observations, it was believed that x-rays are unlikely to come from Pluto.
NASA is very firm in stating the Pluto is not a planet, but instead just a planetoid due to the absence of an atmosphere. However, the New Horizons spacecraft which flew by Pluto last July 2015 suggests otherwise; it is highly likely that Pluto has an atmosphere.
What the Discovered X-ray in Pluto Means?
With this, scientists are surprised because if Pluto is just a planetoid and is rocky and ice cold, then in the first place, it should not emit any x-ray. Naturally, the sun would emit X-rays and would reach Pluto. However, the newly discovered X-rays were found out to not have any solar origin.
Some researchers also suggest that Pluto's atmosphere might have existed in the past, but through time, is stripped away by solar wind. Now, what NASA might be observing are the remnants of Pluto's possible rich atmosphere of long ago.
This discovery increases the likelihood that other heavenly bodies in the Kuiper Belt might have the same nature, also releasing X-rays.
