Study shows Pluto’s atmosphere is slowly disappearing
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Pluto’s atmosphere
What do we know about Pluto?
Pluto is an icy and rocky dwarf planet that lies over 4.8 billion kilometres away from Earth. It is located in the Kuiper belt (a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune).
For a long time, it was known as the 9th planet of the solar system. But after its discovery, scientists also discovered other similar-sized objects. So, in 2006, it was removed as the 9th planet and classified as a ‘dwarf’ planet‘.
Pluto’s atmosphere is thin and mostly made of nitrogen. A recent study says that even that is slowly going away.
Pluto’s atmosphere
Pluto is very far away from the Sun and is moving even farther away as time goes by. This means it is getting less and less sunlight.
So, all this means that Pluto’s atmosphere is dying. This is because the atmosphere is actually refreezing back onto its surface. Eventually, the atmosphere will vanish. Moreover, the dwarf planet is also getting colder and colder.
Unlike Earth, Pluto’s atmosphere is supported by the vapour pressure of its surface ices. This is a tendency of ice to change to a gaseous state as the temperature increases. However, as it gets further away from the Sun, the temperature of the ice on the surface is dropping.
Scientists compared Pluto’s atmosphere in 2015 (when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft visited it) to more recent data. And noticed the changes.
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