Pluto May Have Deep Seas and Ancient Tectonic Faults 47
astroengine (1577233) writes "In July 2015 we get our first close look at the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon, Charon — a fact that has scientists hypothesizing more than ever about what we might see there. One of the latest ideas put forward is that perhaps the collision that likely formed Pluto and Charon heated the interior of Pluto enough to give it an internal liquid water ocean, which also gave the small world a short-lived plate tectonics system, like that of Earth."
Re:It's a Planet (Score:5, Insightful)
He discovered the first Kuiper belt object.
You can think of him as an American Piazzi [wikipedia.org], if you'd like.
Re:It's a Planet (Score:5, Insightful)
Care to offer a definition of "planet" that would include Pluto but rule out Eris/Sedna/Makemake/Haumea/Ceres/etc?
Pluto is the only planet to be discovered by an American.
American astronomer Michael Brown discovered Eris, Sedna, Makemake, and Haumea.
Nobody has any right to deny him his discovery.
Nobody has. He's still listed as the discoverer of Pluto. Just as Piazzi is still listed as the discoverer of Ceres, even though it too lost its early status as a "planet".
If charon was formed at the the formation ... (Score:4, Insightful)
... of the solar system 4 billion years ago and not more recently , then the chances of that water still being liquid without any further external heating - the energy from the sun at plutos orbit is so slight its irrelevant - I suspect are pretty damn close to zero.