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01
How Can There Be Liquid on a Frozen Planet?
Some of the images and data taken by New Horizons showed that the "heart" on Pluto's surface, on its left side, seemed to have a liquid ocean beneath the surface. How could this be though, if Pluto is a frozen planet without any volcanic activity?
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02
The Answer: Gas.
Scientists, after their analysis of new data from the mission, believe that the ocean under Pluto's surface is insulated by pockets of gas, like methane. These pockets slow the transfer of heat from the core of the planet outwards. This would also explain at the same time the lack of methane in Pluto's atmosphere.
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03
The "Lake" Is Alive
Pluto's "heart" is still geologically active, and what's more, it also is actively smoothing out the craters that pockmark the planet's surface. Scientists compared the process to how glaciers form and move, and noticed on the way a number of significant "tectonic features", indicating that Pluto is constantly undergoing geological change still.
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04
The Circle Of (Water) Life
Another fascinating nearby feature are the amoeba-like icy, convective cells. Similar to a lava lamp, the minimal geothermal activity at Pluto's core heats solid nitrogen, which becomes buoyant eventually and rises to the surface, like a blob. It then cools down as it gets closer to the surface, and eventually falls back down to repeat the process again.
With some "cells" like these approximated to reach miles deep, the question is, will NASA have a Pluto Submarine for it's next mission.
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05
Not Dead Yet
Scientists up until the New Horizons mission assumed that objects in the Kuiper Belt, like Pluto and Charon, were more or less dead worlds, finished with their long long trip. But with the results of the mission, objects like Haumea, Eris, and Makemake could be as complex geologically as planets like Mars or Earth. We'll just have to wait for New Horizon's next update.
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06
How Pluto Looks According To Scientists (And a Computer)
Extra Extra: Pluto Has a Heart - And its Liquid
Mankind really had no idea what Pluto looked like until 2015, when the New Horizons spacecraft hurtled by the planet and took the first "close up" pictures of the distant dwarf-planet. The flyby gave us more than a few HD pictures however. Though the surface of Pluto is frigid, due to a balmy average temperature of -380 degrees Fahrenheit, there are a number of surprises to be found, above and below the surface.
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