back to article We'll probe Pluto's moon cracks for mystery ocean – NASA

The cracked face of Pluto’s moon Charon could indicate the satellite's core was once warm enough to hold a subterranean ocean, according to NASA boffins. Mosaic of pics from the Cassini spacecraft show Saturn's moon Enceladus Mosaic of pics from the Cassini spacecraft show cracked surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Credit: …

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  1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
    Headmaster

    damn auto correct!

    "after a giant impact through material off"

    However, that aside it is a very interesting article - I remember how the movie 2001 seemed to be set so far into the future when I saw it originally and now the movie looks so dated ... Truth is quite definitely stranger - and better - than fiction.

  2. Andyf

    Shouldn't "... microbial life, since liquid water is a necessary ingredient" be "... microbial life since liquid water is a necessary ingredient to life as we know it"?

    .We shouldn't presume that all life requires the same elements as our own.

  3. M7S

    Surely it's about to hatch?

    I, for one, etc

    Hoping for a Soup Dragon

  4. Nya
    Coat

    Disney moment...

    Probing Pluto's crack all sounds a bit Goofy to me!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Disney moment...

      Dolan, please!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

    Have people not got over this yet?

    A Dwarf Planet is still a Planet... the clue is in the planet part of its description.

    1. the spectacularly refined chap

      Re: "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

      A Dwarf Planet is still a Planet...

      The IAU disagree with you, and it is they that defined both terms.

      1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

        Re: "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

        But, but ... MUH PLUTO!!

    2. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Re: "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

      While we are getting all bothered about classification, can we please stop calling Charon a moon? The barycenter is outside Pluto, so Charon isn't Pluto's moon. They are a binary system.

      1. DNTP

        Re: "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

        While we are getting all bothered about classification, can we please stop calling Jupiter a planet? The barycenter is outside the Sun, so Jupiter isn't the Sun's planet. They are a binary system according to this single and arbitrary definition.

        Actually I think you are correct that Charon fits the official definition of a dwarf planet, and therefore is part of a binary system, but the committee that rules on these things hasn't said so yet. But arguing that things are not satellites based on barycenters can lead to some funny extrapolations.

      2. the spectacularly refined chap

        Re: "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

        While we are getting all bothered about classification, can we please stop calling Charon a moon? The barycenter is outside Pluto, so Charon isn't Pluto's moon. They are a binary system.

        That isn't a requirement to be a moon - there is no formal definition of a moon. However, the fact remains that Charon has been officially designated as a moon of Pluto. The barycentric argument doesn't really stack up when you think about it - logically that would mean that Jupiter is not a planet since the Sun-Jupiter barycenter is outside the Sun.

        1. Grikath

          Re: "the one-time planet (now characterised as an a "dwarf planet")"

          In about a year we can expect pictures... and measurements and...stuff....

          I for one am just about as excited as I was when I was a wee lad and the Voyager pics of Jupiter came out. We. Get. To. See. Them. Something I didn't expect to happen in my lifetime.

          The bearded chairwarmers at the official institutions can define stuff all they want. I want pics!

  6. Mikel

    Sorry

    Energy transfer is not fast enough to melt water in this case.

  7. DNTP

    Thank you for your interest in the Early Access distribution of Charon. Current features include procedural texturing, comprehensive orbital information, and close integration with our Pluto app, also available for Early Access. Future development may focus on upgrading the interior functionality of Charon, including dynamic fluidics, as crowdsourced funding permits.

    Please visit our Charon kickstarter page to support this project and take a look at these awesome rewards:

    $10 Postcard sized print of Charon

    $50 T-shirt of cartoon Pluto saying "WEAK!" to protest planetary declassification

    $650 Million Your own space probe to Charon please allow 9 to 10 years for delivery

  8. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
    Coat

    Pluto's MOON CRACKS must be PROBED

    Mickey and Donald seen looking very worried.

  9. DerekCurrie
    Alien

    Liquid Methane More Likely

    Based on what I've been studying about Titan, it's more likely that Charon has had liquid methane tides, similar to those evident on Titan but more internally due to the colder surface. All of us have a lot to learn about cold moons and planets.

    As for the possibility of life on or in such cold heavenly bodies, it's fun to speculate but highly unlikely. Cold is cold is cold is death, at least for carbon life forms. Life feeds off some sort of energy source. What would that be out in frigid space, over the course of billions of years, far from a star? Would tidal friction really be adequate?

    1. Mikel

      Re: Liquid Methane More Likely

      At this temperature and level of pressure I believe Methane would boil off where water was a liquid.

  10. MartinC

    Probing the crack of the moon.

    Hmmmm.

    Well I suppose that the aliens did that to some humans during the abductions, if stories are to be believed...

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