Dr. Alan Stern, one of the principal investigators of Pluto, revealed that NASA will make a huge announcement on Thursday regarding the on-again, off-again planetary enigma. Although he stopped short of revealing the news that is to be revealed, he did state that “the world is alive,” making claims that Pluto has weather and active geology.
News Australia shared the new images will be released on Thursday that claim to “change everything we know about the solar system.” Although it is unknown what the announcement may reveal, Stern is bursting at the seams to let it out.
“NASA won’t let me tell you what we’re going to tell you on Thursday. It’s amazing,”
Stern estimated that only 10 percent of the data from the New Horizons spacecraft is available, while the rest continues to download. Therefore, whatever the big announcement is, it may only be the beginning of exciting news surrounding Pluto and its moon, Charon.
Speculation regarding the mountainous features on Pluto may reveal that it has flowing water, similar to Mars. However, claiming that news as “amazing” after water was found on another planet may not be so spectacular. Still, Stern is excited and reveals that this year will be filled with new study material for students to relearn about the solar system.
“2015 will be a year in textbooks forever.”
Both Pluto and Charon have received a lot of press lately, as their terrains have revealed unexpected features that have changed the way each is looked at. Charon became a topic of discussion after photos of the terrain revealed a large crack in the crust, as though it was split open by an unknown force. John Spencer, deputy lead scientist on the geology and geophysics imaging team, shared that much of the surface is smooth to the south of the canyon, which contrast greatly with the more well known pock marks that our moon has, according to the Guardian .
“It looks like the entire crust of Charon has been split open.”
It is speculated that an ocean inside the moon might have frozen, causing the planet to split as the ice expanded.
Pluto, on the other hand, has a surface with “rolling and grooved mountains,” according to Bill McKinnon. He claims it is not what they expected, nor anything like they have seen before.
“They’re like flatirons on the side of mountains. We’ve never seen anything like that elsewhere on any of the planets or their satellites.”
Stern’s reveal of an announcement has some guessing that life may have been found on Pluto, taking the statement “the world is alive” literally.
Although it is unlikely that NASA would make an announcement confirming alien life on another planet, it is plausible that life-supporting features could be revealed, or even plant life.
Despite Stern’s anxious reveal of an announcement on Thursday, the New Horizon’s Twitter account claims that the announcement is nothing more than a rumor, taking Stern’s words out of context. It is unknown whether NASA or New Horizons decided to cancel a planned announcement after Stern’s excited reveal, or if they plan to make the announcement outside of the public view.
There is a false rumor going around that there will be a BIG New Horizons science announcement tomorrow. Completely false.
— NewHorizons2015 (@NewHorizons2015) October 7, 2015
Stern replied to New Horizon’s tweet, claiming that the news was most likely embargoed.
@hansolofsven @NewHorizons2015 This is true every week, news is embargoed until announced by NASA on Thursday. Nothing different this week.
— AlanStern (@AlanStern) October 7, 2015
If the news is amazing enough to embargo, what do you think it might be?
[Photo by NASA / Getty Images News]
