The Monitor Daily

Monday, April 19, 2021
Log in

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

  • Home
  • Politics & National News
  • Business News
  • Tech & Science
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • About us
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Stormy Planet
    • US Surgeon Performs Face Transplant
    • 2017 MTV VMAs Nominations Are In And Voting Is Now Open
    • Bright House: Free McAfee AntiVirus and Adult Controls
    • Antarctic Yeti Crab Gets Formal Scientific Name
    • Spiders Take Over Australian Town
    • Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Mission
    • Social Smoking or The New Landmark of Elegance Among Young Women
    • Rare Weasel Returns To Washington State

Pages

  • About The Monitor Daily
  • Contact US
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • NYC Man Snaps Photo of the Victim After Sucker-Punching Him in Broad Daylight Jun 29, 2018
  • California Woman Performs Home Abortion By Asking Boyfriend to Kick Her in The Belly Jun 28, 2018
  • Nashville Man Arrested After Throwing Cocaine in Police Officer’s Face Jun 28, 2018
  • Brittany Pilkington Wants Psych Eval Before Sentencing Jun 27, 2018
  • Fayetteville Mom Behind Bars For Feeding Children Lighter Fluid Jun 27, 2018
  • Missouri Police Arrested Angry Customer Who Vandalized Nail Salon Jun 26, 2018
  • Queensland Mother Mutilated After Non-Invasive Eye Procedure Goes Sideways Jun 25, 2018

Charon Might Have Harbored a Subsurface Ocean

Feb 20, 2016 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

Serenity Chasma

Charon might have harbored a subsurface ocean according to NASA. The latest image released by the U.S. space agency and received from New Horizons shows a system of tectonic faults.

Charon might have harbored a subsurface ocean according to NASA. The latest image released by the U.S. space agency and received from New Horizons shows a system of tectonic faults which would have caused the surface of Pluto’s moon to stretch and fracture in the process.

The subsurface ocean on Charon may have helped the moon’s surface to fracture as it froze. Water ice pushed outward and caused the tectonic faults to move, leading to the massive scale surface fracture.

NASA’s New Horizons captured this image during the historic Pluto flyby last year. The image suggests the system of tectonic faults is expressed in the scarps, valleys and ridges present on Charon. Some of the valleys on Pluto’s moon are as deep as 4 miles. These are clear indications that at some point in the past of the large moon’s surface fractured during the stretching process.

Charon’s outer layer is currently ridden with water ice. When Pluto’s moon was young, the water was kept in liquid state due to internal formation heat and heat resulted from radioactive elements decaying. NASA believes that the heat thus provided would have been sufficient to keep the water warm and forming a subsurface ocean.

In time, Charon cooled. With heat no longer present, Charon’s subsurface ocean froze and expanded. In the process, the outer layers of Pluto’s moon lifted and stretched, leaving room for the massive chasms visible in the New Horizons image. As such, Charon might have harbored a subsurface ocean.

The New Horizons image portrays Serenity Chasma. The feature, visible on the top part of the NASA image is part of Charon’s equatorial chasms belt. The belt, complete with fractures and tectonic faults is estimated at 1,100 miles in length. Some chasms in the equatorial chasms belt are 4.5 miles deep.

If you look to the lower part of the New Horizons image, you’ll notice Serenity Chasma in color-coded topography. The color-coded topography is key to understanding whether the outer water ice layer was liquid at any point in Pluto’s moon evolution.

The clues suggesting that Charon might have harbored a subsurface ocean were captured by New Horizons in one image taken with the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). The resolution of the New Horizons image is approximately 1,290 feet per pixel. Overall, the image is 240 miles in length and 110 miles in width.

This portion of Pluto’s moon Charon was captured from a distance of 48,900 miles from the large moon. At the time, NASA’s New Horizons was one hour and 40 minutes away from the historic Pluto flyby on July 14, 2015.

Photo Credits: NASA

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: Charon, fractured surface, New Horizons, subsurface ocean, tectonic faults, water ice

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34 other subscribers

Operation Paperclip

Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

Jun 6, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

giant ground sloths on white background

It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

May 8, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

May 7, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

Apr 20, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

infrared image of a dog

Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

Apr 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

snake slithering on a beige background

Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

Feb 26, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

woolly mammoth

Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

Feb 14, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

High Priestess tomb.

Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

Feb 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

dwarf galaxies

Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

Feb 4, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

Feb 1, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

KFC Smoky Wings Box Can Turn into Awesome Drone

Jan 26, 2018 By Robert Moore Leave a Comment

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model S Involved in Autopilot Malfunction Accident

Jan 24, 2018 By Joe Hennessey Leave a Comment

Duke Nukem.

John Cena Cold Feature in Duke Nukem Movie

Jan 23, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

Battlefield One

Battlefield One Apocalypse DLC to Land in February

Jan 20, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Operation Paperclip

    Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

    Jun 6, 2018
  • giant ground sloths on white background

    It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

    May 8, 2018
  • sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

    A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

    May 7, 2018
  • ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

    Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

    Apr 20, 2018
  • infrared image of a dog

    Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

    Apr 5, 2018
  • snake slithering on a beige background

    Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

    Feb 26, 2018
  • woolly mammoth

    Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

    Feb 14, 2018
  • High Priestess tomb.

    Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

    Feb 5, 2018
  • dwarf galaxies

    Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

    Feb 4, 2018
  • NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

    NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

    Feb 1, 2018

Categories

  • Business News
  • Entertainment
  • Featured
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Nature
  • Politics & National
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TheMonitorDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Sitemap · Contact