Pluto Turns Red
Images taken from Hubble have shown Pluto changing colour.
Nasa says the dwarf planet on the edge of our solar system is becoming increasingly red.
Its illuminated northern hemisphere is also getting brighter.
Nasa’s scientists believe these are seasonal changes – as the planet heads into a new phase of its 248-year-long seasonal cycle.
“These changes are most likely consequences of surface ice melting on the sunlit pole and then re-freezing on the other pole,” Nasa’s Space Telescope Science Institute said in a statement.
The overall colour is probably a result of ultraviolet radiation from the distant Sun breaking up methane on Pluto’s surface. This, scientists say, would leave behind a red carbon-rich residue.
Nasa said: “The Hubble pictures underscore that Pluto is not simply a ball of ice and rock but a dynamic world that undergoes dramatic atmospheric changes.”
Related posts:
- Water Widespread on Mars
- Space Junk in Earths Orbit
- Solar System Observer’s Guide Book Review
- New Planet Orbiting another Sun
- The Planetary System Book Review
