If cracks are found on Pluto's moon Charon then it would indicate that the icy body may have housed an underground ocean previously, according to a new NASA report.
The distance of Pluto from the Sun, coupled with the planet's extremely low temperatures (-222 Degrees Celsius) makes it impossible to imagine flowing water on its surface. Pluto's moons are located in a similar frigid environment. Astonishingly, a new NASA funded study found evidence that suggests the presence of flowing water on one of the planet's moons. If cracks are found on Pluto's moon Charon then it indicates that the celestial body may have once housed an ocean under its icy surface.
"Our model predicts different fracture patterns on the surface of Charon depending on the thickness of its surface ice, the structure of the moon's interior and how easily it deforms, and how its orbit evolved," said Alyssa Rhoden of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a press statement. "By comparing the actual New Horizons observations of Charon to the various predictions, we can see what fits best and discover if Charon could have had a subsurface ocean in its past, driven by high eccentricity."
Scientists believe that Charon had eccentric or oval-shaped orbits that could have generated large tides, causing friction and surface fractures. They also said that this tidal deformation may have generated enough heat to maintain liquid water beneath the surface of the moon for some time.
Pluto's moon is not the only celestial body in the outer solar system whose cracks are revealing evidence of ocean interiors - Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus are two examples. According to the researchers, these moons are subjected to gravitational pulls from their respective parent planets as well as other neighboring moons, creating an oval orbit. Owing to this, daily tides are formed which generate heat. It is believed that this heat has extended the life of subsurface oceans of Europa and Enceladus by keeping their interiors warm. This discovery has also led to speculations that both these moons may harbor extraterrestrial life. However, researchers are not clear on whether these bodies also host useable energy source and an ample supply of many key elements, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, all of which are essential to support life.
NASA already has a planned mission for its New Horizons spacecraft to visit Pluto and Charon. Hopefully, the spacecraft will provide more information about both these cosmic bodies.
"Since it's so easy to get fractures, if we get to Charon and there are none, it puts a very strong constraint on how high the eccentricity could have been and how warm the interior ever could have been," added Rhoden. "This research gives us a head start on the New Horizons arrival - what should we look for and what can we learn from it. We're going to Pluto and Pluto is fascinating, but Charon is also going to be fascinating."
The study was funded by the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and NASA Headquarters through the Science Innovation Fund.
