Evidence that Pluto's atmosphere does not collapse from occultations including the 2013 May 04 event

© 2014 The Authors. Combining stellar occultation observations probing Pluto's atmosphere from 1988 to 2013, and models of energy balance between Pluto's surface and atmosphere, we find the preferred models are consistent with Pluto retaining a collisional atmosphere throughout its 248-yea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Icarus
Main Authors: Olkin, C.B., Young, L.A., Borncamp, D., Pickles, A., Sicardy, B., Assafin, M., Bianco, F.B., Buie, M.W., De Oliveira, A.D., Gillon, M., French, R.G., Ramos Gomes, A., Jehin, E., Morales, N., Opitom, C., Ortiz, José Luis, Maury, A., Norbury, M., Braga-Ribas, F., Smith, R., Wasserman, L.H., Young, E.F., Zacharias, M., Zacharias, N.
Other Authors: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Academic Press 2015
Subjects:
Occultations
Atmospheres: evolution
Pluto
surface
Atmosphere
Ice cap
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/167246
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.03.026
https://doi.org/10.13039/100000104
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Summary:© 2014 The Authors. Combining stellar occultation observations probing Pluto's atmosphere from 1988 to 2013, and models of energy balance between Pluto's surface and atmosphere, we find the preferred models are consistent with Pluto retaining a collisional atmosphere throughout its 248-year orbit. The occultation results show an increasing atmospheric pressure with time in the current epoch, a trend present only in models with a high thermal inertia and a permanent N 2 ice cap at Pluto's north rotational pole. This work was supported in part by NASA Planetary Astronomy Grant NNX12AG25G. Peer Reviewed

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