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submitted 6 months ago by Sibbo@sopuli.xyz to c/space@lemmy.world

Does anyone know why it looks like Pluto has an atmosphere in this picture?

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[-] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Hey, I've had this as my desktop background for almost a decade now! Easily my favorite picture of anything "space".

As for your question, it looks like Pluto has an atmosphere in the picture because, well, it does. Although it's very thin, Pluto's atmosphere is primarily nitrogen, so if you stood on the surface during daytime the sky would appear a very familiar blue color.

Here's another shot taken by New Horizons where you can see it much more clearly: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Blue_hazes_over_backlit_Pluto.jpg

[-] wjrii@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

Short answer? Because it does. It doesn't take much to be visible compared to space.

[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

I don’t think any planet^1^ has surprised us more than Pluto.

^1^ I know. If anyone gets pedantic, they’re reclassified as a dwarf clown.

[-] FaceDeer@fedia.io 0 points 6 months ago

Pluto's atmosphere has been studied since the 1980s, using spectroscopy and stellar occultation (watching starlight flicker as Pluto passed in front of it). It wasn't a surprise when New Horizons observed it.

[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

I wasn’t thinking about the atmosphere. I meant in general, Pluto surprised more than other first fly-bys. Uranus is obviously extra weird in a lot of ways but who was expecting Pluto to be as interesting?

this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
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