Radioactive Core Encases Dwarf Planet in Ice

[n2doc]

By Dave Mosher May 13, 2011 | 3:25 pm | Categories: Space


A thin shell of ice formed by a continuous cycle of heating and freezing gives Haumea, a distant dwarf planet discovered in 2004, its distinctive glimmer in deep space.

Astronomers knew Haumea had a frosty coating, but they didn’t know it was made of fresh, highly organized crystals instead of old, amorphous glass-like ice.

“Since solar radiation constantly destroys the crystalline structure of ice on the surface, energy sources are required to keep it organized,” said planetary scientist Benoit Carry of the European Space Agency in a press release May 12. The findings have been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Named after the Hawaiian goddess of childbirth, the rocky, football-shaped Haumea is one-tenth the size of Earth and about 43 times farther from the sun, located beyond Pluto in the Kuiper belt.

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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/haumea-ice/

[MineralMan]

1. Weirdest. Planetoid. Ever.

Truly. This is amazing.

[nebenaube]

2. Feeling pretty dense here...

What does “Since solar radiation constantly destroys the crystalline structure of ice on the surface, energy sources are required to keep it organized” actually mean?

[nonperson]

3. I'm feeling pretty dense to but this quote from the article sheds a bit of light

By analyzing sunlight bouncing off Haumea’s surface with the Very Large Telescope in Chile, Carry and other astronomers calculated that its surface ice is constantly replenished. They think heat from radioactive elements, combined with gravitational kneading from its two tiny satellite bodies Hi’iaka and Namaka, melts ice on Haumea’s surface. It soon refreezes, resulting in a perpetual cycle of icy renewal.

So are they saying that solar radiation melts the ice and some internal radiation source plus gravitational effects from its two satellites continually replenish the ice? I guess?

[n2doc]

4. High energy radiation breaks bonds, ionizes molecules

and turns glasses into more amorphous material. So the ice on the surface isn't crystalline, unless it is melted again and re-freezes. I think they are seeing that the surface of the asteroid is crystalline ice, which is different from the disordered ices on saturn's moons and elsewhere. My opinion, only.