High-resolution images from a flyby of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft show that Pluto may currently have a liquid ocean underneath its icy crust.
According to a study from Brown University published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, Pluto's subsurface ocean may have most likely existed until today. In order to conduct the study, the scientists created a computer model that simulates Pluto's evolution using the images sent back by New Horizons.
The results of the simulation show that if Pluto's ocean has already dried up, the planet would have significantly shrunk. However, because no signs of shrinking are present on the planet, scientists came to a conclusion that the liquid ocean under Pluto's crust is still present. In fact, data suggests that Pluto is actually expanding.
"We don't see the things on the surface we'd expect if there had been a global contraction. So we conclude that ice has not formed, and therefore that the ocean hasn't completely frozen," Noah Hammond, a graduate student in Brown's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, and the study's lead author, told Science Daily.
Called the thermal evolution model, the simulated model of Pluto shows that the said ocean would feature a unique type of ice with a reduced volume. Scientists say that this ice would have a thick icy shell and slabs of nitrogen and methane to retain heat within the planet.
Hammon added, "Thanks to the incredible data returned by New Horizons, we were able to observe tectonic features on Pluto's surface, update our thermal evolution model with new data and infer that Pluto most likely has a subsurface ocean today."
Hammon further explained that the recent findings show the possibility of vast liquid oceans in other planets or objects in space that are located far from the Sun.