TORONTO -- The dwarf planet Pluto鈥檚 icy 鈥渂eating heart鈥� of frozen nitrogen controls its winds and possibly other features on the surface, according to research released by NASA.
The was published in the December 2019 Journal of Geophysical Research, and builds off of data taken from NASA鈥檚 2015 New Horizons mission, which captured footage of the heart-shaped ice structure named Tombaugh Regio on the surface for the first time.
The study found that frozen nitrogen 鈥� in the shape of a heart 鈥� covers Pluto鈥檚 surface, and a thin layer of the nitrogen turns into vapour during the day.
At night, the vapour is again frozen into ice, which pumps nitrogen winds around the surface, and gives rise to the sequence being labeled a 鈥渉eartbeat鈥� due to the shape of the structure and cyclical nature of the event.
Researchers ran several simulations of the phenomenon and found that the 鈥渉eartbeat鈥� pushes the nitrogen winds in the opposite direction that the planet is spinning, known as 鈥渞etro-rotation.鈥�
Because Pluto orbits far from the sun, its seasonal cycle is much longer than that of Earth 鈥� with one Pluto year approximately equivalent to 248 Earth years 鈥� according to the study. The surface of Pluto receives very little energy from the sun because of its distance, which results in slow surface events 鈥� all of which had to be accounted for when researchers did their simulations, which had their calculations spanning several Pluto years.
The study posits that the unique phenomenon of retro-rotation is the cause of 鈥渄ark wind streaks鈥�.and differences in ice composition and colour鈥� that have been observed in the Sputnik Planitia basin and other areas on Pluto鈥檚 surface.
Researchers noted in their study that their work confirms that despite a 鈥渇rozen surface and tenuous atmosphere, Pluto鈥檚 climate is remarkably active.鈥�
