The wonders of space never fail to amaze scientists. The latest chapter in this fascinating tale occurs on the surface of pluto. A recently released image from NASA shows what looks to be a giant ‘spider’ on the surface of the dwarf planet.
SIX-LEGGED SPIDER FOUND ON PLUTO
A minimum of six ‘legs’ was found by NASA on Pluto’s icy surface, looking like some form of alien spider sprawled across the planet. The longest of these legs stretches 360 miles long and scientists are now researching the cause of the fractures. Apparently, the pattern is unlike anything they’ve seen in the solar system. This only adds to the mind blowing occurrences that Pluto provides on a regular basis.
FRACTURES CAUSED BY STRESS
Just because it’s a planet, doesn’t mean Pluto is immune from stress. Scientists report that these long cracks are the result of prolonged stress in the crust beneath the spider’s “legs”. For example, the material could have swelled, causing the surface to crack. These patterns are unique from other fractures found the planet. Usually, the cracks tend to run parallel to each other in long stretches, but this particular image shows them in a circular pattern. In the past, similar cracks like this were found by NASA on Venus and Mercury. The discovery of these “sider legs” marks yet another monumental finding from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
NEW HORIZONS OBSERVES SPACE WEATHER
In addition to the discovery of Pluto’s fractures, New Horizon’s has been quite productive in its space travels lately. Just the other day, New Horizons sent back data in regards to deep space weather. By studying the origin of something like cosmic rays, scientists can hopefully figure out how to keep astronauts safe in deep space travel to places like Mars. Observing the behavior of these solar particles has always been a challenge, but as New Horizons continues to gather data, the scientist can get closer to understanding solar activity in the space vacuum.
