The atmosphere of Pluto as observed by New Horizons

G Randall Gladstone; S Alan Stern; Kimberly Ennico; Catherine B Olkin; Harold A Weaver; Leslie A Young; Michael E Summers; Darrell F Strobel; David P Hinson; Joshua A Kammer; Alex H Parker; Andrew J Steffl; Ivan R Linscott; Joel Wm Parker; Andrew F Cheng; David C Slater; Maarten H Versteeg; Thomas K Greathouse; Kurt D Retherford; Henry Throop; Nathaniel J Cunningham; William W Woods; Kelsi N Singer; Constantine C C Tsang; Rebecca Schindhelm; Carey M Lisse; Michael L Wong; Yuk L Yung; Xun Zhu; Werner Curdt; Panayotis Lavvas; Eliot F Young; G Leonard Tyler; New Horizons Science Team

doi:10.1126/science.aad8866

The atmosphere of Pluto as observed by New Horizons

Science. 2016 Mar 18;351(6279):aad8866. doi: 10.1126/science.aad8866.

Authors

G Randall Gladstone¹, S Alan Stern², Kimberly Ennico³, Catherine B Olkin², Harold A Weaver⁴, Leslie A Young², Michael E Summers⁵, Darrell F Strobel⁶, David P Hinson⁷, Joshua A Kammer², Alex H Parker², Andrew J Steffl², Ivan R Linscott⁸, Joel Wm Parker², Andrew F Cheng⁴, David C Slater⁹, Maarten H Versteeg⁹, Thomas K Greathouse⁹, Kurt D Retherford¹⁰, Henry Throop⁶, Nathaniel J Cunningham¹¹, William W Woods⁸, Kelsi N Singer², Constantine C C Tsang², Rebecca Schindhelm², Carey M Lisse⁴, Michael L Wong¹², Yuk L Yung¹², Xun Zhu⁴, Werner Curdt¹³, Panayotis Lavvas¹⁴, Eliot F Young², G Leonard Tyler⁸; New Horizons Science Team

Collaborators

New Horizons Science Team:
S A Stern, F Bagenal, K Ennico, G R Gladstone, W M Grundy, W B McKinnon, J M Moore, C B Olkin, J R Spencer, H A Weaver, L A Young, T Andert, J Andrews, M Banks, B Bauer, J Bauman, O S Barnouin, P Bedini, K Beisser, R A Beyer, S Bhaskaran, R P Binzel, E Birath, M Bird, D J Bogan, A Bowman, V J Bray, M Brozovic, C Bryan, M R Buckley, M W Buie, B J Buratti, S S Bushman, A Calloway, B Carcich, A F Cheng, S Conard, C A Conrad, J C Cook, D P Cruikshank, O S Custodio, C M Dalle Ore, C Deboy, Z J B Dischner, P Dumont, A M Earle, H A Elliott, J Ercol, C M Ernst, T Finley, S H Flanigan, G Fountain, M J Freeze, T Greathouse, J L Green, Y Guo, M Hahn, D P Hamilton, S A Hamilton, J Hanley, A Harch, H M Hart, C B Hersman, A Hill, M E Hill, D P Hinson, M E Holdridge, M Horanyi, A D Howard, C J A Howett, C Jackman, R A Jacobson, D E Jennings, J A Kammer, H K Kang, D E Kaufmann, P Kollmann, S M Krimigis, D Kusnierkiewicz, T R Lauer, J E Lee, K L Lindstrom, I R Linscott, C M Lisse, A W Lunsford, V A Mallder, N Martin, D J McComas, R L McNutt Jr, D Mehoke, T Mehoke, E D Melin, M Mutchler, D Nelson, F Nimmo, J I Nunez, A Ocampo, W M Owen, M Paetzold, B Page, A H Parker, J W Parker, F Pelletier, J Peterson, N Pinkine, M Piquette, S B Porter, S Protopapa, J Redfern, H J Reitsema, D C Reuter, J H Roberts, S J Robbins, G Rogers, D Rose, K Runyon, K D Retherford, M G Ryschkewitsch, P Schenk, E Schindhelm, B Sepan, M R Showalter, K N Singer, M Soluri, D Stanbridge, A J Steffl, D F Strobel, T Stryk, M E Summers, J R Szalay, M Tapley, A Taylor, H Taylor, H B Throop, C C C Tsang, G L Tyler, O M Umurhan, A J Verbiscer, M H Versteeg, M Vincent, R Webbert, S Weidner, G E Weigle 2nd, O L White, K Whittenburg, B G Williams, K Williams, S Williams, W W Woods, A M Zangari, E Zirnstein

Affiliations

¹ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA. [email protected].
² Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
³ National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
⁴ The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
⁵ George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
⁶ The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
⁷ Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
⁸ Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁹ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA.
¹⁰ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA. University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
¹¹ Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE 68504, USA.
¹² California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
¹³ Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.
¹⁴ Groupe de Spectroscopie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique, Université Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51687 Reims, France.

PMID: 26989258
DOI: 10.1126/science.aad8866

Abstract

Observations made during the New Horizons flyby provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of Pluto's atmosphere. Whereas the lower atmosphere (at altitudes of less than 200 kilometers) is consistent with ground-based stellar occultations, the upper atmosphere is much colder and more compact than indicated by pre-encounter models. Molecular nitrogen (N2) dominates the atmosphere (at altitudes of less than 1800 kilometers or so), whereas methane (CH4), acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), and ethane (C2H6) are abundant minor species and likely feed the production of an extensive haze that encompasses Pluto. The cold upper atmosphere shuts off the anticipated enhanced-Jeans, hydrodynamic-like escape of Pluto's atmosphere to space. It is unclear whether the current state of Pluto's atmosphere is representative of its average state--over seasonal or geologic time scales.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.