Could There Be Life On Pluto? Researchers Are Astonished By What They Discovered!

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has just recently reached and photographed Pluto. The recent images NASA has received show massive icy mountains bigger than the Alps (check out the video below for an incredible flyover of the icy mountains) and huge pools of water. These are great signs that life might exist on this far off planet.

The incredible photographs indicate that Pluto is covered with a wide smooth surface. According to researchers, the dwarf planet is less than 100 million years old, making it relatively young (in terms of planets, at least).

John Spencer, one of the mission team members said:

“I would never have believed that the first close-up picture we get of Pluto didn’t have a single impact crater on it. That’s just astonishing.”

It is more than probable that life could not exist on the surface of Pluto, as it orbits the sun at an extreme distance. The temperatures get as low as -240 °C (-400 °F) on the surface. However, this does not rule out the possibility that life could have flourished below the surface.

Scientists believe that the internal structure of Pluto is made of rocky material that has settled into a dense core and is now surrounded by a mantle of ice. The core diameter is estimated to be around 1700km and the ice layer is believed to be 100-200km thick.

Hal Weaver, fellow researcher said:

“Who would have supposed that there were ice mountains? It’s just blowing my mind.”

Spencer added:

“They would stand up respectably against the Rocky Mountains.”

According to the latest images received from the probe, “a mountain range with peaks up to 3,500 meters above the surface” has been spotted.

NASA has also stated that the region has a heart shaped landscape and will be named Clyde Tombaugh, in memory of the astrophysicist who first spotted the dwarf planet in 1930.

Featured below is a mind blowing animated flyover of Pluto’s icy mountains:

Resources:

• //www.nasa.gov/feature/latest-images-of-pluto-from-new-horizons
• //www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/us/nasa-new-horizons-pluto-flyby/
• //www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/us/nasa-new-horizons-pluto-flyby/
• //www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28481702/pluto-mission-q-amp-new-horizons-pluto-geologist
• //pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Spacecraft/presentations/WeaverScience.pdf
• //www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/us/the-long-strange-trip-to-pluto-and-how-nasa-nearly-missed-it.html

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has just recently reached and photographed Pluto. The recent images NASA has received show massive icy mountains bigger than the Alps (check out the video below for an incredible flyover of the icy mountains) and huge pools of water. These are great signs that life might exist on this far off planet.

The incredible photographs indicate that Pluto is covered with a wide smooth surface. According to researchers, the dwarf planet is less than 100 million years old, making it relatively young (in terms of planets, at least).

John Spencer, one of the mission team members said:

“I would never have believed that the first close-up picture we get of Pluto didn’t have a single impact crater on it. That’s just astonishing.”