Title
PLUTO's ATMOSPHERE from STELLAR OCCULTATIONS in 2012 and 2013
Date Issued
20 September 2015
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Dias-Oliveira A.
Sicardy B.
Lellouch E.
Vieira-Martins R.
Assafin M.
Camargo J.I.B.
Braga-Ribas F.
Gomes-Júnior A.R.
Benedetti-Rossi G.
Decock A.
Doressoundiram A.
Dumas C.
Emilio M.
Fabrega Polleri J.
Gil-Hutton R.
Gillon M.
Girard J.H.
Hau G.K.T.
Ivanov V.D.
Jehin E.
Lecacheux J.
Leiva R.
Lopez-Sisterna C.
Mancini L.
Manfroid J.
Maury A.
Morales N.
Nagy L.
Opitom C.
Ortiz J.L.
Pollock J.
Roques F.
Snodgrass C.
Soulier J.F.
Thirouin A.
Vanzi L.
Widemann T.
Reichart D.E.
Lacluyze A.P.
Haislip J.B.
Ivarsen K.M.
Dominik M.
Jørgensen U.
Skottfelt J.
Publisher(s)
Institute of Physics Publishing
Abstract
We analyze two multi-chord stellar occultations by Pluto that were observed on 2012 July 18th and 2013 May 4th, and respectively monitored from five and six sites. They provide a total of fifteen light curves, 12 of which were used for a simultaneous fit that uses a unique temperature profile, assuming a clear (no haze) and pure N2 atmosphere, but allowing for a possible pressure variation between the two dates. We find a solution that satisfactorily fits (i.e., within the noise level) all of the 12 light curves, providing atmospheric constraints between ∼1190 km (pressure ∼11 μbar) and ∼1450 km (pressure ∼0.1 μbar) from Pluto's center. Our main results are: (1) the best-fitting temperature profile shows a stratosphere with a strong positive gradient between 1190 km (at 36 K, 11 μbar) and r = 1215 km (6.0 μbar), where a temperature maximum of 110 K is reached; above it is a mesosphere with a negative thermal gradient of -0.2 K km-1 up to ∼1390 km (0.25 μbar), where the mesosphere connects itself to a more isothermal upper branch around 81 K; (2) the pressure shows a small (6%) but significant increase (6σ level) between the two dates; (3) without a troposphere, Pluto's radius is found to be 5 km. Allowing for a troposphere, RP is constrained to lie between 1168 and 1195 km; and (4) the currently measured CO abundance is too small to explain the mesospheric negative thermal gradient. Cooling by HCN is possible, but only if this species is largely saturated. Alternative explanations like zonal winds or vertical compositional variations of the atmosphere are unable to explain the observed mesospheric negative thermal gradient.
Volume
811
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84945570696
Source
Astrophysical Journal
ISSN of the container
0004637X
Sponsor(s)
European Commission (ALFA-EC) and the EPLANET Program (European Particle Physics Latin American Network) Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM) and the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Netherlands; Research Council of Norway (NFR); National Science Centre, Poland; Ministry of National Education/Institute for Atomic Physics and Consiliul Naional al Cercetrii tiinifice-Executive Agency for Higher Education Research Development and Innovation Funding (CNCS-UEFISCDI)-Romania; Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federal Agency of Atomic Energy, Russian Federal Agency for Science and Innovations and The Russian Foundation for Basic Research; Ministry of Education of Slovakia; Department of Science and Technology, South Africa; Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (CIEMAT), E-Infrastructure shared between Europe and Latin America (EELA), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain, Xunta de Galicia (Consellería de Educación), Centro de Aplicaciones Tecnolgicas y Desarrollo Nuclear (CEADEN), Cubaenergía, Cuba, and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency); Swedish Research Council (VR) and Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW); Ukraine Ministry of Education and Science; United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC); The United States Department of Energy, the United States National Science Foundation, the State of Texas, and the State of Ohio; Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of Croatia and Unity through Knowledge Fund, Croatia; Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India. The ALICE Collaboration would like to thank all its engineers and technicians for their invaluable contributions to the construction of the experiment and the CERN accelerator teams for the outstanding performance of the LHC complex. The ALICE Collaboration gratefully acknowledges the resources and support provided by all Grid centres and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) collaboration. The ALICE Collaboration acknowledges the following funding agencies for their support in building and running the ALICE detector: State Committee of Science, World Federation of Scientists (WFS) and Swiss Fonds Kidagan, Armenia; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Chinese Ministry of Education (CMOE) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MSTC); Ministry of Education and Youth of the Czech Republic; Danish Natural Science Research Council, the Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish National Research Foundation; The European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme; Helsinki Institute of Physics and the Academy of Finland; French CNRS-IN2P3, the ‘Region Pays de Loire’, ‘Region Alsace’, ‘Region Auvergne’ and CEA, France; German Bundesministerium fur Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF) and the Helmholtz Association; General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Ministry of Development, Greece; Hungarian Orszagos Tudomanyos Kutatasi Alappgrammok (OTKA) and National Office for Research and Technology (NKTH); Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and Centro Fermi-Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche ‘Enrico Fermi’, Italy; MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research, Japan; Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Consejo Nacional de Cienca y Tecnologia (CONACYT), Direccion General de Asuntos del Personal Academico (DGAPA), México; Amerique Latine Formation academique
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus