Title
Large changes in Pluto's atmosphere as revealed by recent stellar occultations
Date Issued
10 July 2003
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Sicardy B.
Widemann T.
Lellouch E.
Veillet C.
Cuillandre J.C.
Roques F.
Beisker W.
Kretlow M.
Lagrange A.M.
Gendron E.
Lacombe F.
Lecacheux J.
Birnbaum C.
Fienga A.
Leyrat C.
Maury A.
Raynaud E.
Renner S.
Schultheis M.
Brooks K.
Delsanti A.
Hainaut O.R.
Gilmozzi R.
Lidman C.
Spyromilio J.
Rapaport M.
Rosenzweig P.
Naranjo O.
Porras L.
Diaz F.
Calderón H.
Carrillo S.
Carvajal A.
Recalde E.
Cavero L.G.
Montalvo C.
Barría D.
Campos R.
Duffard R.
Levato H.
IMCCE
Publisher(s)
Springer Nature
Abstract
Pluto's tenuous nitrogen atmosphere was first detected by the imprint left on the light curve of a star that was occulted by the planet in 1985 (ref. 1), and studied more extensively during a second occultation event in 1988 (refs 2-6). These events are, however, quite rare and Pluto's atmosphere remains poorly understood, as in particular the planet has not yet been visited by a spacecraft. Here we report data from the first occultations by Pluto since 1988. We find that, during the intervening 14 years, there seems to have been a doubling of the atmospheric pressure, a probable seasonal effect on Pluto.
Start page
168
End page
170
Volume
424
Issue
6945
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0038004459
PubMed ID
Source
Nature
ISSN of the container
00280836
Sponsor(s)
Acknowledgements Setting up the equipment and recording the occultation data proved to be a challenge, and we appreciate the assistance of G. Koenig, L. Berkgnut, T. Denault, P. Sears, R. Stone, D. Severinsen, A. Pickles and T. Carroll. We thank the staff of the Maui Space Surveillance System for their assistance in taking the Haleakala data, and we thank B. Sicardy et al. for communication of results before publication. The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope is operated by the Joint Astronomy Centre on behalf of the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. This work was supported, in part, by Research Corporation, the Southwest Research Institute, NSF and NASA. L.C.R. and D.T.H. were supported by Air Force Research Laboratory/Directed Energy.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus