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

peer reviewed 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 orbi...

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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. Dias, Gillon, Michaël, French, R. G., Ramos Gomes, A., Jehin, Emmanuel, Morales, N., Opitom, Cyrielle, Ortiz, J. L., Maury, A., Norbury, M., Braga-Ribas, F., Smith, R., Wasserman, L. H., Young, E. F., Zacharias, M., Zacharias, N.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2015
Subjects:
Pluto
atmosphere
surface
Atmospheres
evolution
Occultations
Physical
chemical
mathematical & earth Sciences
Space science
astronomy & astrophysics
Physique
chimie
mathématiques & sciences de la terre
Aérospatiale
astronomie & astrophysique
Ice cap
Online Access:https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/178288
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/178288/1/1-s2.0-S0019103514001523-main.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.03.026
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Summary:peer reviewed 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.

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