Pluto has upside-down atmosphere
March 7th, 2009 - 12:58 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, March 7 (ANI): A new study has found that Pluto has an upside-down atmosphere compared with Earth, with temperatures rising, rather than dropping, with altitude on the dwarf planet.
According to a report in National Geographic News, this was found by astronomers using the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope, which helped to make the most detailed measurements to date of the concentration of the greenhouse gas methane in Plutos atmosphere.
The measurements showed that methane is the second most abundant gas in Plutos atmosphere, and that the gas is actually warmer at higher elevations than at the icy surface.
As a result, Plutos upper atmosphere is about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) warmer than the planets surface.
The team, led by Emmanuel Lellouch of Frances Paris Observatory, speculates that there is a thin frozen layer, or frozen patches, of methane and other gases on Pluto’’s surface.
As Pluto orbits closer to the sun, the frozen gases vaporize. This process, called sublimation, cools Plutos surface while warming the planets atmosphere.
According to Leslie Young, deputy project scientist for NASAs New Horizons probe, the new discovery is exciting, especially since it hints at future unexpected observations from New Horizons, which is scheduled to settle into orbit around Pluto in 2015.
We know that Pluto changes with time as it moves around the sun, Young said.
So combining Earth-based observations with New Horizons data taken from Plutos orbit will provide new clues about the dwarf planets behavior. (ANI)
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Tags: abundant gas, altitude, astronomers, deputy project scientist, emmanuel, fahrenheit, frozen gases, frozen layer, greenhouse gas methane, higher elevations, national geographic, national geographic news, new discovery, new horizons, observatorys, orbit, orbits, paris observatory, planets, upper atmosphere
