Scientists have been unable to determine whether the dwarf planet’s organics were produced by its own chemical processes or delivered by asteroids. New evidence implicates asteroids.
dwarf planets
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Los planetas enanos muestran evidencias de reciente actividad geológica
Los grandes cuerpos del Cinturón de Kuiper y más allá podrían haber albergardo océanos en la subsuperficiales.
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Dwarf Planets Show Evidence of Recent Geologic Activity
Large bodies in the Kuiper Belt and beyond could have hosted subsurface oceans.
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Quaoar’s Ring Defies Gravity
The dwarf planet’s ring makes astronomers question whether a long-held theory about ring and moon formation needs tweaking.
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Ceres: Missing Craters, Crust Thickness Variation by Interior Convection
Models show that several puzzling features about Ceres’ topography, gravity anomalies, and crater size distribution may be explained by asymmetric hemispherical convection due to radiogenic heating.
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Pluto’s Surface Was Recently Sculpted by Icy Volcanism
Geologically young regions of Pluto’s southern hemisphere were likely resurfaced by cryovolcanism, data from the New Horizons spacecraft reveal.
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Capturing Pluto’s Heartbeat in a Computer
Unprecedented global climate model simulations, incorporating observational data from the New Horizons mission, reveal atmospheric circulations driven by a large ice cap on Pluto.
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Ancient Impact’s Seismic Waves Reveal Pluto’s Ocean, Core
By modeling the waves produced by a massive, ancient impact, scientists have begun to unlock the secrets of Pluto’s interior.
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Meet Hygiea, the Smallest Dwarf Planet in Our Solar System
New observations confirm that main asteroid belt object Hygiea is round. It now fulfills all the requirements to graduate from asteroid to dwarf planet.
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New Findings Suggest Dwarf Planet Ceres Is Geologically Active
Cryovolcanoes, landslides, and water ice all point to current activity, researchers found.