The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years.
Data from the New Horizons mission to Pluto show no craters on Sputnik Planum down to the detection limit (2 km for low resolution data, 625 m for high resolution data). The number of small Kuiper Belt Objects that should be impacting Pluto is known to some degree from various astronomical surveys....
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4720356?pdf=render |
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doaj-e8495de29d774d908c7cb849fe5d204f2020-11-25T01:24:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01111e014738610.1371/journal.pone.0147386The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years.David E TrillingData from the New Horizons mission to Pluto show no craters on Sputnik Planum down to the detection limit (2 km for low resolution data, 625 m for high resolution data). The number of small Kuiper Belt Objects that should be impacting Pluto is known to some degree from various astronomical surveys. We combine these geological and telescopic observations to make an order of magnitude estimate that the surface age of Sputnik Planum must be less than 10 million years. This maximum surface age is surprisingly young and implies that this area of Pluto must be undergoing active resurfacing, presumably through some cryo-geophysical process. We discuss three possible resurfacing mechanisms and the implications of each one for Pluto's physical properties.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4720356?pdf=render |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
English |
| format |
Article |
| sources |
DOAJ |
| author |
David E Trilling |
| spellingShingle |
David E Trilling The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years. PLoS ONE |
| author_facet |
David E Trilling |
| author_sort |
David E Trilling |
| title |
The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years. |
| title_short |
The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years. |
| title_full |
The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years. |
| title_fullStr |
The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years. |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years. |
| title_sort |
surface age of sputnik planum, pluto, must be less than 10 million years. |
| publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| series |
PLoS ONE |
| issn |
1932-6203 |
| publishDate |
2016-01-01 |
| description |
Data from the New Horizons mission to Pluto show no craters on Sputnik Planum down to the detection limit (2 km for low resolution data, 625 m for high resolution data). The number of small Kuiper Belt Objects that should be impacting Pluto is known to some degree from various astronomical surveys. We combine these geological and telescopic observations to make an order of magnitude estimate that the surface age of Sputnik Planum must be less than 10 million years. This maximum surface age is surprisingly young and implies that this area of Pluto must be undergoing active resurfacing, presumably through some cryo-geophysical process. We discuss three possible resurfacing mechanisms and the implications of each one for Pluto's physical properties. |
| url |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4720356?pdf=render |
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