‘HOT OCEAN’ ORIGIN RAISES CHANCE OF LIFE ON PLUTO

An ocean below Pluto’s surface has raised fresh hopes of extraterrestrial activity, a study has suggested.

Deep beneath an ice shell more than 97 km thick, the ancient body of water could hold the ingredients to life outside our planet.

Analysis of images from NASA’S New Horizons mission shows that Pluto was hot when it first formed, rather than a celestial snowball as earlier thought.

Carver Bierson, a planetary scientist, said: “Even in this cold environment so far from the sun, all these worlds might have formed fast and hot — with liquid oceans. By examining Pluto’s features today, we can begin to understand its birth four and a half billion years ago.

“Long-term chemical interactions between these oceans and the rocky materials below may have implications for the potential habitability of these distant icy worlds.”