Although it is widely known that the rings are mainly water ice, the latest Cassini data has ruled out ammonia ice and
methane ice. What's surprising, however, is that it can't detect the organic compounds at all.
Giuranna said that further research was needed to determine the extent of the
methane ice sheet near Gale Crater.
The clouds are said to from when the flow of ambient air is perturbed and diverted upwards over the dark vortex, thereby causing the gasses to freeze into
methane ice crystals.
Read more: Pluto's marvelous
methane ice dunes surprise scientists
USING DATA SENT BACK from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft after its 2015 flyby of Pluto, planetary scientists think they've found evidence of wind-built ripples of
methane ice on the world's surface.
Experts said the likely source of the dune grains is
methane ice blown from nearby mountains.
The addition of nitrogen and
methane ice spotted on the surface of the tiny world may also help keep the water warm.
Naturally, one then would ask, "Can pure
methane ice support such steep structures under Pluto's gravity and surface temperature conditions over geologic time?"
Slight warming of the water above these deposits is all it takes to melt the
methane ice and release the stored methane--a powerful greenhouse gas with 82 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide over a 25-year period.
While Uranus and Neptune are mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, they both contain significant amounts of
methane ice, which gives them their bluish appearance.
"And probably some
methane ice and carbon dioxide ice, with a little rock thrown in.