Sentences with phrase «nitrogen ice on the surface»

As nitrogen ice on the surface of the plain cools, it recedes, only to be replaced by a rising blob of nitrogen that has been warmed by Pluto's meagre internal heat source.

Not exact matches

On Pluto, a slurry of nitrogen and water ice melted by subsurface heat stands in for lava, the team suggests, freezing solid once it is exposed at the surface.

Now a team of astronomers, led by Tobias Owen of the University of Hawaii, has discovered nitrogen ice on Pluto's surface (International Astronomical Union Circular, No 5532).

There is probably water - ice at depth on Pluto, but the surface ice is a mixture of frozen methane, ethane, carbon monoxide and nitrogen.

... The ice is not just scattered on the surface; it goes hundreds of miles deep,» and the world is even colder than Pluto, which itself is colder than liquid nitrogen, added co-author Jennifer Yee from the Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

Unlike most smaller Kuiper belt objects, these Pluto - sized bodies are mostly round, likely internally differentiated with the ice and rock separated, and contain frozen volatile ices, like nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane, in varying amounts on their evolving surfaces.

Showing an area that is 1,290 miles top to bottom, it details the enormous geological variety found on the surface, including mountain ranges, craters, floating hills, and rugged highlands, as well as the nitrogen - ice plain informally named Sputnik Planum.