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Pluto May Have Deep Seas and Ancient Tectonic Faults
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."
But seriously. It's barely considered a planet and now people want to point out its faults? Leave Pluto alone!!!
" Pluto is the only planet to be discovered by an American."
What about exoplanets? Surely many of those were discovered by americans.
Of course they are beyond the jurisdiction of the IAU
He discovered the first Kuiper belt object.
You can think of him as an American Piazzi, if you'd like.
You hear me? A planet.
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Have Space Suit, Will Travel.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
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".
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
... 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.
That must be painful.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"