Chandra detects low-energy X-rays from Pluto

Pluto is cold and rocky. It hosts no known X-ray-emitting mechanisms. Yet, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has detected low-energy X-rays coming from Pluto.
It's the first time that X-rays coming from an object in our Kuiper Belt had been detected, and a proof that Pluto is interacting with the solar wind in an unexpected and energetic fashion.
The phenomenon is new, but it's not entirely unheard of. Gases surrounding asteroids and dwarf planets can interact with solar wind, the streams of charged particles emanating from the sun, to produce X-rays.
But when researchers modeled the interactions between Pluto's thin atmosphere and solar winds using data collected by the space probe New Horizons, the results didn't match up. The X-rays emanating from Pluto are brighter than the model predicted.
Researchers suggest the Pluto's X-rays may be explained by a longer than expected comet-like tail created by the interaction between the dwarf planet's gases and streaming solar winds. It's also possible interplanetary magnetic fields within the Kuiper Belt are concentrating a larger than expected amount of solar particles into the region surrounding Pluto.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/201...s-low-energy-X-rays-from-Pluto/7961473875812/