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Life on Pluto?

Posted by chrisd on from the life-on-earth-to-follow dept.

EccentricAnomaly writes "The BBC is reporting that new models of icy moons in the outer solar system predict that oceans (as in liquid water oceans) may be much more common than previously thought. Even Pluto and Neptune's moon Triton now appear to be good candidates for a liquid ocean under their ice. This is exciting because life has been found on Earth in environments similar to these icy oceans at Antarctica's Lake Vostok."

2 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. Similar? by targo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out this temperature comparison site.
    Basically it says that the coldest spot on earth is -128 F (-89 C, 184 K), while Pluto's surface temperature is -378 to -396 F (-228 to -238 C, 35 to 45 K), air actually turns liquid at this point.
    So this makes it quite different for any practical purposes.
    The article itself also mentions that the water (if any) is probably under 100 miles of ice, which makes Antarctica infinitely more hospitable and accessible.

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  2. Vostok not breached yet... by dargaud · · Score: 5, Informative
    Life has NOT been found in Vostok lake (yet). The ice coring has been stopped 50 meters from the lake which is 4km under the ice to avoid contamination until a method can be found to decontaminate the drill.

    Radar images of Antarctica, including Vostok.

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