Pluto Gained a ‘Heart’ After Colliding With a Planetary Body
mrpg writes:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/18/world/pluto-heart-planetary-collision-scn/index.html
A huge heart-shaped feature on the surface of Pluto has intrigued astronomers since NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured it in a 2015 image. Now, researchers think they have solved the mystery of how the distinctive heart came to be - and it could reveal new clues about the dwarf planet's origins.
The feature is called Tombaugh Regio in honor of astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930. But the heart is not all one element, scientists say. And for decades, details on Tombaugh Regio's elevation, geological composition and distinct shape, as well as its highly reflective surface that is a brighter white than the rest of Pluto, have defied explanation.
[...] Through new research on Sputnik Planitia, an international team of scientists has determined that a cataclysmic event created the heart. After an analysis involving numerical simulations, the researchers concluded a planetary body about 435 miles (700 kilometers) in diameter, or roughly twice the size of Switzerland from east to west, likely collided with Pluto early in the dwarf planet's history.
[...] "Pluto's core is so cold that the (rocky body that collided with the dwarf planet) remained very hard and did not melt despite the heat of the impact, and thanks to the angle of impact and the low velocity, the core of the impactor did not sink into Pluto's core, but remained intact as a splat on it," said lead study author Dr. Harry Ballantyne, research associate at the University of Bern in Switzerland, in a statement.
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