NASA's New Horizons spacecraft just detected strange hazy layers on the atmosphere of Pluto, determining the cause of these bizarre streaks, resembling ripples on water.
Initially, mission scientists believed that this event was shaped by gravitational waves originating from deep space, however, in this new study, these layers are apparently produced by buoyance waves or gravity waves. So, what is the difference?
These two cosmic forces are totally different from each other. Gravitational forces originate from supermassive black hole collisions millions of years ago, which are now travelling through deep space. For the first time ever, direct evidence for gravitational waves were detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) last February, when these cosmic waves hit Earth.
According to New Horizons principal investigator, Alan Stern, however, the presence of gravity waves on Pluto are caused by the interactions of fluids with one another.
On the other hand, according to Darrel Strobel who is also from the New Horizons team, certain elements act differently and go through different states on Pluto compared to Earth such as ice turning into gas which is known as sublimation, instead of liquid state like here on Earth. This is in turn creates a force resulting in hazy streaks or rippling on the surface of the dwarf planet, similar to how a rock is thrown on a surface of a lake that creates ripples of water.
Stern explains that since these forces are not cosmological in nature, they are in fact, atmospheric buoyancy waves where the majority of the team are now more inclined to believe that these structures that appear as horizontal bands or layers, are formed by gravity waves.
Apart from this, Strobel also adds that the forces that are occurring in Pluto's atmosphere are not static at all and balanced. This imbalance and pressure differences along with the topography of the dwarf planet can push winds in creating gravity waves.
Last July 2015 marked the historic arrival of the New Horizons spacecraft in the Pluto system, surprising NASA scientists with a wealth of data and high resolution images, revealing Pluto's complex terrain and features that are never seen before. Recent images released by the probe revealed a giant "ice spider" and halo craters made from icy methane.