Atmosphere of Pluto subject to significant changes and disappears, According to a recent study by researchers. The icy dwarf planet’s atmosphere consists mostly of nitrogen.
This dwarf planet is located about 4.8 billion km from Earth in the Kuiper belt. It lost its place on planet Earth many years ago. It is said that he caught the attention of scientists when he passed in front of a star in 2018.
Astronomers have discovered that Pluto’s atmosphere is undergoing a strange transformation.
Study: key points
• A research team succeeded in observing the dwarf planet and its atmosphere against the backlight of the star from the dwarf planet.
• Researchers later found evidence that Pluto’s atmosphere was beginning to disappear.
• They studied the dwarf planet’s thin atmosphere using telescopes at several locations in Mexico and the United States.
• Pluto’s atmosphere is mainly nitrogen, like Earth’s. Its atmosphere is supported by the vapor pressure of the ice on the dwarf planet’s surface.
• Therefore, if the temperature of the ice rises, it can change the density of its atmosphere dramatically, according to the researchers.
• The study was conducted by researchers at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).
Why is Pluto’s atmosphere starting to disappear?Researchers report that Pluto is getting colder. Over the past 25 years, Pluto has moved further away from the Sun, thus receiving less sunlight, and its surface temperature getting lower. The researchers note that as the dwarf planet moves away from the Sun, its atmosphere freezes again on its surface. However, due to a phenomenon known as thermal inertia, Pluto’s surface pressure and atmospheric density continued to increase until 2018. This dwarf planet has residual heat when it is closer to the sun. However, the researchers note, the humidity is starting to decrease, and as Pluto gets colder, more of its atmosphere will freeze back on its surface and “disappear.” |
Atmosphere of PlutoPluto’s atmosphere is largely powered by the vapor pressure of the ice on its surface, unlike Earth’s. This means that even a small change in the surface temperature of the ice can drastically change the mass density of the atmosphere. Until recently, nitrogen ice reservoirs on Pluto’s surface were kept warm by the heat stored below the surface, which contributed to the persistence of Pluto’s atmosphere, but new data suggest they are starting to cool. Pluto takes 248 Earth years to complete one revolution around the Sun. The distance between it and the Sun varies from about 30 AU to 50 AU. One astronomical unit is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. |
Background
Pluto is located so far from the Sun that, over time, it will appear farther away (and cooler) before approaching the Sun in other regions of its very large orbit.
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