Astronomers find ice and possibly methane on Snow White, a distant dwarf planet
Monday, August 22, 2011 - 15:00
in Astronomy & Space
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have discovered that the dwarf planet 2007 OR10nicknamed Snow Whiteis an icy world, with about half its surface covered in water ice that once flowed from ancient, slush-spewing volcanoes. The new findings also suggest that the red-tinged dwarf planet may be covered in a thin layer of methane, the remnants of an atmosphere that's slowly being lost into space.