Pluto's Potential for Life

• Surface conditions too cold for life as we know it
• Tholins (organic molecules) potentially cycling into planet's interior
  • Could be transported to areas where ice melts into liquid water
  • Chemical evolution of simple organic molecules could continue
  • Driven by Pluto's meager heat
• Possible subsurface ocean life machinery assembly
  • Similar to Earth's deep oceans 4 billion years ago
• Sphere of life around sun may extend much further than previously thought
• Scientific debate ongoing - some intrigued by possibilities, others skeptical
  • Analogy: ingredients don't guarantee final product (flour, butter, eggs don't always make cookies)

New Horizons Mission - Pluto's Moon System

• Mission discovered stunning possibility of life 3 billion miles from sun
• Scientists knew Pluto likely had 5 companion worlds
• Everything about moons was discovery - complete surprises

Pre-Mission Knowledge

• Hubble Space Telescope imaged 5 moons 3 years before New Horizons arrival
  • One oversized moon: Charon
  • Four much smaller icy companions
• New Horizons reprogrammed to study these worlds
• Search for additional moons too small for Hubble detection
• Team betting on additional moon discoveries
  • Some guessed dozens, some guessed few more
  • One top team member guessed zero
  • Stern bet dinner anywhere in US that at least one more would be found
  • Stern lost bet - New Horizons confirmed Hubble saw all moons

Moon Characteristics Discovered

• Five moons total: oversized Charon, plus Styx, Nix, Kerberos, Hydra
• Four tiny ice moons each less than 25 miles across
• Unlike any moons astronomers had seen before
• Spinning extremely fast compared to expectations
• Poles not aligned with Pluto's pole - spinning on their sides
• Totally crazy orbital behavior - no prior expectation

Moon Formation Theory

• Early Kuiper Belt formation involved frequent icy body collisions
• Similar to Earth-Moon system formation
  • Mars-sized proto-planet collided with Earth to form Earth-Moon system
• Pluto likely took giant hit in youth
• Moons are leftovers from mammoth collision
• Giant Charon settled into close spinning orbit with Pluto
• Four tiny moons orbit around both bodies like tumbling icy shrapnel

Charon Analysis

Physical Appearance

• First images show gray dead world
• Pockmarked with scars of violent past
• Biggest scar appears to almost split moon in two
• Described as "Frankenstein's moon" - looks hammer and chisel broken, then mashed back together

Charon's Geological History

• Texas-sized moon split apart in frozen outer solar system wastelands
• Water as splitting force
• 4 billion years ago had internal liquid ocean like Pluto today
• Smaller size caused quicker cooling
• Entire ocean turned to ice, Charon burst at seams
• Analogy: soda can in freezer - water expands, metal doesn't, ruptures and splits
• Equatorial canyon/fault system represents last gasp of geologic activity
• "Spilled its guts out" as interior ice froze on way to becoming dead world

Mordor Region Mystery

• Red-stained polar cap catches scientists' attention
• Barren red painted terrain presents greatest challenge
• Most surprising feature on Charon's long list of surprises
• North polar region covered in red substance
• Likely tholin (complex organic molecule)
• Charon doesn't have ingredients or atmosphere to make complex organic molecules
• Tholin must be coming pre-made from elsewhere
• Only logical source: Pluto, over 10,000 miles away
• Transfer mechanism unclear
  • Possibly through Pluto's atmosphere, transferred through space
  • Deposited on Charon's North Pole
  • Process not understood by anyone

Future Implications

• Many mysteries remain despite extensive data
• Scientists now have handle on how Pluto works
• Allows imagination of Pluto's future
• Pluto may be about to awaken from deep cold slumber