Pluto is Young

According to Eric Hand, writing at sciencemag.org, “…parts of the dwarf planet’s [Pluto] surface are crater-free and therefore relatively young … [Pluto] has been geologically reworked in the recent past.”

Hand posits an enigma for followers of Old Earth Fallacies (OEF’s), “Radioactive elements in both bodies’ [Pluto and Charon the largest moon] interiors could provide some of the heat needed for geological mountain building or ice flows that repave the surface.  But Pluto, and especially Charon, are far too small for this heat to persist.”

Methane, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide may form a thin veneer over ice mountains on Pluto.  These layers would quickly sublimate into the atmosphere and erode into space.  If Pluto is young then we have no worries. 

New Horizons co-investigator Cathy Olkin expected that Charon would be an ancient terrain covered in craters.  The lack of craters implies Pluto and Charon are young – thousands of years maybe?

The lack of craters tells of a Young Pluto.  As George Dvorsky (io9.com) states, “…the surface of Pluto is young - really, really young.  To have a surface that young, Pluto must be an active world with processes that regularly resurface the terrain. The big question is: Where is this energy coming from?”

Pluto’s atmosphere is very quickly escaping into space – could this be a bold signal of its youth?  Michael Summers, deputy lead of the New Horizons atmosphere team said, “For an atmosphere that’s escaping like that, supersonically, into space, there's nothing like that in the solar system, except for the solar wind itself.”  If Pluto is young, the supposed scientific curiosity is vaporized.

How much did all this pro-YoungEarth research cost us?  Only $720M.  A more down-to-earth project is to help crowd fund a national survey on the age of the earth.  Young Pluto has a true friend in the fascinating book YES – Young Earth Science by Jay Hall.

Note: emphasis added in quotations.