Active geology and the large-scale chemistry it drives requires enormous amounts of heat. Dwarf planets near the edge of the Solar System, such as Pluto and other Kuiper Belt objects, formed from cold, icy material and generally did not become hot enough for the Sun. The heat left over from its formation may have been lost to space long ago.
However, Pluto turned out to be a world full of geological events, some of which involved constant reactivation of the dwarf planet's surface. Last week, researchers said the same could happen to other dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt. Thanks to the capabilities of the web telescope, it was able to distinguish Differences in hydrogen isotopes is in Chemicals on the surface of Eris and Magmak.
Dwarf planets, cold and distant
Kuiper Belt objects originate from the distant Solar System; They form far away from the heat of the Sun, and they contain many substances that are gases in the inner planets, such as nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. Many of these bodies grew so far away from the gravitational influence of the eight major planets that they never traveled to the hot inner Solar System. Also, since there has been very little material from the Sun so far, most bodies are very small.
Although they appear at high temperatures due to the process by which they were formed, their small size indicates a suitable surface-to-volume ratio that allows internal heat to be rapidly radiated into space. Since then, the heat has come from rare collisions or the decay of radioactive isotopes.
However, the arrival of the “New Horizons” mission to Pluto made that clear It doesn't take much heat to cause active geology, seasonal changes in sunlight may explain some of its properties. Such worlds are less likely to be hit by sunlight likeIt orbits one and a half times closer to the Sun than Pluto. ErisIt's about as big as Pluto, orbiting twice as close to the star after its closest approach.
It would take decades to send a mission to any of these planets, and none are currently in development, so we can't determine what their surfaces will be like. But that doesn't mean we don't know anything about them. And the James Webb Space Telescope has helped increase our knowledge of them.
James Webb used these objects to obtain images of sunlight reflected from them, obtaining their infrared spectra, that is, the amount of light at different wavelengths. The spectrum depends on the chemical composition of the surface of the dwarf planets. Certain chemicals absorb certain wavelengths of infrared light, preventing them from being reflected. By looking at where the spectrum dips, you can tell what chemicals they contain.
Some of that work has already been done. But James Webb is capable of capturing previously inaccessible parts of the spectrum, and even its tools are relevant. Identify the different isotopes of atoms Makes every chemical substance. For example, some methane molecules (CH4) coincidentally, one of their hydrogen atoms will form its heavier isotope, deuterium, CH3D. These isotopes act as potential tracers and reveal information about the origin of chemical substances.
Unexpected discoveries on dwarf planets
Both Eris and Magmac have a lot of methane ice on their surfaces, and Eris has signs of nitrogen ice, although Magmac does not. Surprisingly, carbon monoxide does not appear in either body, although it is a major component of cometary ice, which is also believed to come from the Kuiper belt. This is the first sign that something strange is happening on the surface of these bodies.
Methane has no traces of the more complex organic molecules normally formed when exposed to radiation. They include ethane, ethylene and acetylene. Water, carbon dioxide and ammonia are absent from the spectrum.
