Pluto Is A Dwarf Planet/Comet Hybrid? Scientists Baffled By Unique Solar Wind Interaction

Pluto NASA NASA's New Horizons Pluto's Solar Wind interaction Pluto dwarf planet Pluto planet/comet hybrid

By Belle Smith , Parent Herald May 09, 06:23 am

There was a lot of controversy over Pluto's previous demotion to a dwarf planet, but now scientists are baffled by what it could actually be. What is Pluto? It looks like its unique solar wind interactions have revealed that Pluto is actually a hybrid between a planet and a comet.

First Of All, What Is Solar Wind?

The plasma that is made up of charged particles comes from the sun in an amazing speed of 100 million miles per hour and has certain interactions with planets and comets. While planets cause an immediate disruption in the solar wind, comets simply slow it down.

Dr. David J. McComas, who was in charge of the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument of NASA's New Horizons, declared that the planet's interaction with the solar wind was completely different (via Phys.org). "The results are astonishing," he shared.

"We were fascinated and surprised," McComas continued. "We've now visited all nine of the classical planets and examined all their solar wind interactions, and we've never seen anything like this."

Pluto's Interaction with the Solar Wind is Unique, Study Finds | @NASA https://t.co/s0ESrVdBxx pic.twitter.com/g39TRXBFky

— The SETI Institute (@SETIInstitute) May 5, 2016

Pluto's Solar Wind Interaction

Dr. David J. McComas, who is the vice president for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, made a remarkable discovery about Pluto's solar wind interaction. "This is an intermediate interaction, a completely new type," he said. "It's not comet-like, and it's not planet-like. It's in-between."

It isn't easy to baffle McComas, who also a professor in Princeton University's Department of Astrophysical Sciences. However, Pluto's unique solar wind interaction has made it obvious that there is still so much the world can learn about space. New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern spoke about the new data in a press release (via NASA).

"These results speak to the power of exploration," Stern declared. "Once again we've gone to a new kind of place and found ourselves discovering entirely new kinds of expressions in nature."