Pluto System- NH Scientific Results |
Pluto System- NH Scientific Results |
Oct 15 2015, 06:46 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
out in Science (and in open access, thanks Alan!):
The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons |
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Aug 21 2016, 08:28 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 362 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
I am not sure if I should post this here but having seen the Pluto system up close we have come to know better how this system ticks. Analogies have been made with the Earth particularly in terms of Planet moon size comparison and the process of formation in terms of colliding protoplanets in the early history of the solar system. Is there any possibility the protoplanet that collided with earth which led to the formation of our moon was a KBO? Would that not explain the different make up of earth's atmosphere today and the abundant presence of liquid water on the surface in contrast to the other terrestrial planets?
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Aug 21 2016, 10:38 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Is there any possibility the protoplanet that collided with earth which led to the formation of our moon was a KBO? My impression from what I've read is that the collision was a relatively low velocity one, implying that the colliding object was in an orbit rather similar to the proto-earth, so not a KBO. I think there was a lot of water around in the inner solar system right from the beginning. It's had billions of years to get lost by photo-dissociation at the tops of atmospheres and by molecular sublimation from planetary surfaces exposed to near vacuum and sunlight, but it survives everywhere else: as ice just under the surface on Mars and Ceres, as a major component of the Venusian clouds, as ice again in cold traps on Mercury and the Moon - and there is probably even more water stored in pore spaces in rocks on all the terrestrial worlds. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 4th May 2024 - 06:36 PM |
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