Editing Pluto (section)

=== Internal structure ===
{{redirect|Life on Pluto|fiction about aliens from Pluto|Life on Pluto in fiction}}
[[File:Pluto's internal structure2.jpg|thumb|Model of the internal structure of Pluto<ref name="Hussmann2006" />{{Bulleted list|Water ice crust|Liquid water ocean|Silicate core}}]]
Pluto's density is {{val|1.853|0.004|u=g/cm3}}.<ref name="Brozovic2024"/> Because the decay of radioactive elements would eventually heat the ices enough for the rock to separate from them, scientists expect that Pluto's internal structure is differentiated, with the rocky material having settled into a dense [[Core (geology)|core]] surrounded by a [[mantle (geology)|mantle]] of water ice. The pre–''New Horizons'' estimate for the diameter of the core is {{val|1,700|u=km}}, 70% of Pluto's diameter.<ref name="Hussmann2006" /> 
It is possible that such heating continues, creating a [[subsurface ocean]] of liquid water {{nowrap|100 to 180 km}} thick at the core–mantle boundary.<ref name="Hussmann2006" /><ref name="pluto.jhuapl Inside Story" /><ref name="Sci Am 2017">[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/overlooked-ocean-worlds-fill-the-outer-solar-system/ Overlooked Ocean Worlds Fill the Outer Solar System] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226133924/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/overlooked-ocean-worlds-fill-the-outer-solar-system/ |date=December 26, 2018 }}.  John Wenz, ''Scientific American''. October 4, 2017.</ref> In September 2016, scientists at [[Brown University]] simulated the impact thought to have formed [[Sputnik Planitia]], and showed that it might have been the result of liquid water upweling from below after the collision, implying the existence of a subsurface ocean at least 100&nbsp;km deep.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=An Incredibly Deep Ocean Could Be Hiding Beneath Pluto's Icy Heart|author=Samantha Cole|url=http://www.popsci.com/an-incredibly-deep-ocean-could-be-hiding-beneath-plutos-icy-heart|magazine=Popular Science|access-date=September 24, 2016|archive-date=September 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927112125/http://www.popsci.com/an-incredibly-deep-ocean-could-be-hiding-beneath-plutos-icy-heart|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2020, astronomers reported evidence that Pluto may have had a [[Extraterrestrial liquid water|subsurface ocean]], and consequently may have been [[Planetary habitability|habitable]], when it was first formed.<ref name="INV-20200622">{{cite news |last=Rabie |first=Passant |title=New Evidence Suggests Something Strange and Surprising about Pluto&nbsp;— The findings will make scientists rethink the habitability of Kuiper Belt objects. |url=https://www.inverse.com/science/pluto-hot-star |date=June 22, 2020 |work=[[Inverse (website)|Inverse]] |access-date=June 23, 2020 |archive-date=June 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623071829/https://www.inverse.com/science/pluto-hot-star |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NGS-20200622">{{cite journal |author=Bierson, Carver |display-authors=et al. |title=Evidence for a hot start and early ocean formation on Pluto |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0595-0 |date=June 22, 2020 |journal=[[Nature Geoscience]] |volume=769 |issue=7 |pages=468–472 |doi=10.1038/s41561-020-0595-0 |bibcode=2020NatGe..13..468B |s2cid=219976751 |access-date=June 23, 2020 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622201613/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0595-0 |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 2022, a team of researchers proposed that the mountains [[Wright Mons]] and [[Piccard Mons]] are actually a merger of many smaller cryovolcanic domes, suggesting a source of heat on the body at levels previously thought not possible.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto |first=Kelsi N. |last=Singer |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |date=March 29, 2022 |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=1542 |doi=10.1038/s41467-022-29056-3 |pmid=35351895 |pmc=8964750 |arxiv=2207.06557 |bibcode=2022NatCo..13.1542S }}</ref>