Pluto News: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Planet

Pluto News: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Planet Clapway

What’s to know about that lonely planet on the far reaches of our solar system? More than you’d think. It turns out Pluto spits out a fair bit of news on the reg so listen up. Here are five things ignorant Earthlings don’t know about the planet.

1. PLUTO IS COLDER THAN WE THINK AND WE DONT KNOW WHY

The upper atmospheric temperature of the planet has been found to be much colder than any Earth-based studies have previously found. About 70 degrees Fahrenheit colder actually. That’s news to a lot of scientists. No one knows why the atmosphere is colder. The wonders of science have eluded us this time

2. IT’S BLOOD IS STILL PUMPING

In scientific terms, Pluto’s is still raging a geological hard on. In even more scientific terms, that means it’s been active throughout the past  4 billion years.  In addition to that, the planets surface, Sputnik Planum, is clear of any detectable craters. This means it’s probably no more than 10 million years old.

3. IT HAS COMPLEX DIVERSITY

What’s the news on diversity? From nitrogen-rich, methane-rich, to water-rich, Pluto is swimming in compositional units. This has lead to some intense puzzles regarding Pluto’s climate and geologic history.  News reports show that no other place in our solar system shows such variation. The conspirator in me thinks NASA is hiding aliens up there.

4. NEWS REPORTS GRAVITY WAVES FOUND ON THE PLANET

Imagine grabbing your cosmic surfboard and “hanging ten” on some gravity waves, brah. The result of these waves is a mechanism for forming atmospheric haze layers on the planet. The mechanism involves concentrating the haze particles by atmospheric buoyancy waves (gravity waves). These waves are formed by the intense winds from the planet’s mountainous topography.

5. IT’s FAR LESS HAZARDOUS THEN WE THOUGHT

The presence of Pluto’s four small moons used to raise some concern. People thought these moons would create some debris hazards in the system, but they were wrong. After the flyby by NASA’s New Horizons, only a single dust particle in five days was spotted. Compared to other parts of the solar system, the density is fairly similar. This shows that the area around the planet is pretty tidy and not surrounded by debris as some news sources reported.