Tombaugh Regio (in honor of the discoverer of the dwarf planet, Clyde Tombaugh) or the “frozen heart” of Pluto already has its explanation. New research published in the journal Nature suggests that this high number of nitrogen glaciers is caused by seasonal thermal inertia.
According to the estimates of researchers from the University of Paris (France), who have examined the Sputnik Planum plateau, inside that frozen heart and carried out computer simulations with a model that spans 50,000 Earth years, if there is a high seasonal thermal inertia bands of permanent ice were most likely to form in the more equatorial regions of the dwarf planet.
After analyzing the influence of orography on the formation of icy regions and topography, the scientists state that it is the same phenomenon that has been observed on Mars. The simulations rule out that they are large nitrogen reservoirs in the interior of this plain , nor that deposits of pure carbon monoxide were formed; rather this compound would have mixed with the frozen nitrogen.
Pluto’s “frozen heart” would have been constituted by a mixture of atmospheric factors and characteristics of its own surface. Thus, the terrain conditions the formation of the glacier because it is the deep basins that allow the cooling of the ice to intensify. According to the study’s conclusions, most of the frozen areas of this plain will disappear in the next decade.
