In:
Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Vol. 351, No. 6279 ( 2016-03-18)
Kurzfassung:
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 (N 2 ) dominates the atmosphere (at altitudes of less than 1800 kilometers or so), whereas methane (CH 4 ), acetylene (C 2 H 2 ), ethylene (C 2 H 4 ), and ethane (C 2 H 6 ) 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.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
0036-8075
,
1095-9203
DOI:
10.1126/science.aad8866
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publikationsdatum:
2016
ZDB Id:
128410-1
ZDB Id:
2066996-3
ZDB Id:
2060783-0
SSG:
11
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