Pluto's Heart May Likely Be Formed On Its Own, Not By An Asteroid Impact

Pluto may be the most controversial of all the major planets in the Solar System having been pulled out and brought back to the list of official planets. In July 2015, its name has once again made the rounds when a clearer photo of its "icy heart" surfaced. Now the real reason behind the formation of the heart is yet again making a mild uproar among space enthusiasts, between those believing that it was formed naturally and those who are firm that it was caused by an impact.

According to a Space.com report, the left lobe of Pluto's heart is an impact crater filled with methane, exotic ices and frozen nitrogen and called the Sputnik Planitia. For a long time, people believed that the crater was formed first through an asteroid impact and eventually developed the ice in it. However, a recent study proves otherwise.

This "less violent" proposition, like how The Christian Science Monitor puts it, on how the heart-shaped depression was formed directs to the heavy ices that are on it. The scientists found that instead of being hammered or bumped, the crater was formed because the heavy ices over it were the reason the Pluto's surface was pushed in.

The study was published in the journal Nature and talked deeper about how the basin-like formation was present in the Pluto's surface anyway, reports the LA Times. The Astronomy professor at the University of Maryland, Douglas Hamilton, led the confirmatory research. He shared that scientists are used to planets having two ice caps, however, the dwarf planet has only one.

Aside from this model hypothesis, there are a lot more other studies about the dwarf planet's heavy heart published in the said journal. Although Pluto was unfortunately taken off the list as an official planet, it is the only planet next to Mars and the Earth to have an ice cap on it. And this may breed possibilities that it could house in living creatures in the future.