NASA Spacecraft Finds Methane Ice Dunes On Pluto (bbc.com) 32
Scientists say they have found evidence of dunes of frozen methane on Pluto, suggesting that the distant world is more dynamic than previously thought. The research has been published in the journal Science. BBC reports: The findings come from analysis of the startling images sent back by Nasa's New Horizons mission, which flew close to Pluto in July 2015. In their study, the researchers explain how they studied pictures of a plain known as Sputnik Planitia, parts of which are covered with what look like fields of dunes. They are lying close to a range of mountains of water ice 5km high. The scientists conclude that the dunes are 0.4-1km apart and that they are made up of particles of methane ice between 200-300 micrometers in diameter -- roughly the size of grains of sand. "The methane grains could have been lofted into the atmosphere by the melting of surrounding nitrogen ice or blown down from nearby mountains," the researchers write in the journal Science. "Understanding how dunes form under Pluto conditions will help with interpreting similar features found elsewhere in the solar system."
Atmosphere? (Score:2)
Or at least, lofted into nearby space before falling to the surface.
Re:Atmosphere? (Score:5, Informative)
Pluto's atmosphere is big enough to support its own wikipedia page [wikipedia.org]
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I've never experienced this issue, and I edit wikipedia all the time. And I am not in the cabal, and in fact I typically edit anonymously.
But I also add an entry on the talk page explaining what I did, because, you know, comments and stuff.
99.9% of the publicised problems with wikipedia edit-wars and ego-reverts are on 0.00001% of the actual total articles. That percentage may be too high....
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You probably just don't know your anonymous edits are being reverted.
Also, stop using numbers. You made those ones up, and that isn't how statistics works.
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Unfortunately true. I was working on an article about a film and some kid replaced the entire article with his school essay. I and others tried to revert it but because we are adults with jobs competing with students with a lot of free time on their hands, I, at least gave up.
Re:Atmosphere? (Score:5, Interesting)
Pluto's atmosphere is big enough to support its own wikipedia page [wikipedia.org]
It is also big enough to cause global warming. Methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2, and Pluto's high methane levels raise atmospheric temps up to 110K (-163 C), rather than the 40K to 60K it would be without an atmosphere.
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Every methane rock in the asteroid belt has some diffuse gas floating around it. The nature of gravity is such that it works that way at low (from a human perspective) mass levels. Any gaseous rock will produce local warming. It doesn't mean they have an atmosphere.
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Obligatory [thepeoplescube.com]...
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Dwarf humans are still humans, your post seems to indicate that you don't consider a dwarf to be real unless it pretends not to be a dwarf.
You're surely the -ist here.
Dwarf humans are humans, miniature poodles are dogs, and if you can't figure out that a dwarf planet is still a planet you should just stop body-shaming it and go die in a planetarium fire!
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This can be found closer to home (Score:2)
A sneaky fart in mid-winter Yellowknife produces similar results. Of course, there might be a small amount of hydrogen sulphide contamination.
Which means it's a planet (Score:2)
'Nuff said.
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Apparently they didn't get the memo (Score:2)
Let the drilling begin! (Score:2)
In a seemingly unrelated discovery (Score:2)
...scientists have discovered Plutonian cows.
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that dispense ice cream, because it's freakin' cold.
"Moooo! Brrrrr!" *squirt* *squirt* "Mooo! Brrrr!" go the shivering cold ice cream dispensing Plutonian Cows at milking time.
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The TV images of man on the moon made it look a nice place for mankind to explore space from.