Mysterious world beyond Pluto may have atmosphere, study says

New Horizons spacecraft survives journey 1 billion miles beyond Pluto 02:03

A new study suggests a small, icy world lies beyond Pluto It has a thin and fragile atmosphere that may have been formed by volcanic eruptions or comet impacts.

Only about 300 miles across, this mini-Pluto is thought to be the smallest object in the solar system with a gravitationally bound, clearly detectable global atmosphere, said lead researcher Ko Arimatsu of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

“This is an incredible development, but it is in dire need of independent verification. If confirmed, the implications would be profound,” said Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, the principal scientist behind NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. He did not participate in the research.

If confirmed, the rock would become the second world in our solar system, after Pluto, to host an atmosphere, after Neptune.

The finding offers new insight into our solar system’s most distant, coldest objects in a region known as the Kuiper Belt. Researchers used three telescopes in Japan to observe the object, which briefly obscured starlight as it passed in front of a background star in 2024.

“This changes our view of small worlds in the solar system, not just beyond Neptune,” Arimatsu said in an email. He added that finding an atmosphere around such a small object was “truly surprising” and “challenges the traditional view that atmospheres are limited to large planets, dwarf planets and some large moons.”

Officially known as (612533) 2002 At the time of the research, it was 3.4 billion miles away from Pluto, the only other object with an atmosphere observed in the Kuiper Belt.

The atmosphere of this cosmic iceball is believed to be 5 to 10 million times thinner than Earth’s protective atmosphere, according to research published in New York on Monday. Nature Astronomy magazine.

It is 50 to 100 times thinner than even Pluto’s thin atmosphere. According to Arimatsu, the most likely atmospheric chemicals are methane, nitrogen or carbon monoxide, any of which could reproduce the dimming observed as the object passed in front of the star.

Especially NASA’s further observations Webb Space TelescopeAccording to Arimatsu, it can confirm the structure of the atmosphere.

Ice volcanoes or comet impact?

Researchers couldn’t say for sure what created the atmosphere that wasn’t thick enough to support life.

However, they suggested that this may have been caused by gas released from the earth’s interior by the eruption of ice volcanoes.

Or it may have been activated by a comet hitting the earth, meaning it will slowly disappear.

Spanish astronomer Jose-Luis Ortiz, who was not involved in the research and studies dwarf planets beyond Neptune, said the results were interesting but cautioned that caution should be exercised.

“I still doubt that this is an atmosphere. We need more data,” he told AFP.

Ortiz said an alternative explanation for the observations could be that the object has a ring close to its body.

Arimatsu acknowledged that it could not rule out “exotic alternatives” to the atmosphere.

But “a ring visible almost from the edge does not seem consistent with the main features of our observations,” he added.

Both astronomers called for more observations, particularly with the James Webb space telescope, to learn more about this strange world.

Suggestions have also emerged that the dwarf planet called Makemake, which is slightly smaller than Pluto, may have a very thin atmosphere, but some scientists are skeptical about this. Pluto was long considered our ninth planet, but in 2006 the International Astronomical Union reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet.

Last week, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman suggested that the space agency was considering repurposing Pluto as a full-fledged planet.

“I’m very much on board with the idea of ​​making Pluto a planet again,” Isaacman said. in question.

Isaacman made these comments while approving NASA’s proposal to cut its science budget in half, angering some astronomers.

“‘Making Pluto a planet again’ while destroying the careers of those who study Pluto is crazy!” Planetary scientist Adeene Denton wrote in Bluesky.