eso0908 — Pressemitteilung Wissenschaft

The lower atmosphere of Pluto revealed

2. März 2009











"Discriminating between the two will require further study of Pluto as it moves away from the Sun," says Lellouch. "And of course, NASA's New Horizons space probe will also provide us with more clues when it reaches the dwarf planet in 2015."


[1] The atmospheric pressure on Pluto is only about one hundred thousandth of that on Earth, or about 0.015 millibars.

[2] Usually, air near the surface of the Earth is warmer than the air above it, largely because the atmosphere is heated from below as solar radiation warms the Earth's surface, which, in turn, warms the layer of the atmosphere directly above it. Under certain conditions, this situation is inverted so that the air is colder near the surface of the Earth. Meteorologists call this an inversion layer, and it can cause smog build-up.

Weitere Informationen

E. Lellouch et al. 2009, A&A, in press, Pluto's lower atmosphere structure and methane abundance from high-resolution spectroscopy and stellar occultations.

The team is composed of E. Lellouch, B. Sicardy, and C. de Bergh (Observatoire de Paris, France), H.-U. Käufl (ESO), S. Kassi and A. Campargue (Université Joseph Fourier, France).


Emmanuel Lellouch
Observatoire de Paris
Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 450 77 672

Hans-Ulrich Käufl
Garching, Germany
Tel: +33 1 450 77 672 I92
Mobil: +49 160 6365135

Henri Boffin
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6222 I92

Valentina Rodriguez
Tel: +56 2 463 3123

Connect with ESO on social media

Über die Pressemitteilung

Pressemitteilung Nr.:eso0908
Legacy ID:PR 08/09
Facility:Very Large Telescope
Science data:2009A&A...495L..17L


Pluto (Artist's Impression)
Pluto (Artist's Impression)


Pluto Surface (Artist's impression)
Pluto Surface (Artist's impression)

Siehe auch