this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
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66
(Old) picture of Pluto captured by the New Horizons spacecraft (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 3 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Does anyone know why it looks like Pluto has an atmosphere in this picture?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 minutes ago

Hey, I've had this as my desktop background for almost a decade now! Easily my favorite picture of anything "space".

As for your question, it looks like Pluto has an atmosphere in the picture because, well, it does. Although it's very thin, Pluto's atmosphere is primarily nitrogen, so if you stood in the surface during daytime the sky would appear a very familiar blue color.

Here's another shot taken by New Horizons where you can see it much more clearly: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Blue_hazes_over_backlit_Pluto.jpg

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

(Old)

Hey, fuck you this only happened ... checks watch ... 9 years ago? God Damn, we are getting old.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 minutes ago* (last edited 9 minutes ago)

Hey, if you wanna feel really old, look up how long it's been since Pluto was demoted from being a planet.

spoiler alert: its been 18 freaking years

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

That's a friggin planet....

[–] [email protected] 2 points 44 minutes ago* (last edited 43 minutes ago)

It's smaller than the moon, and six other moons

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Short answer? Because it does. It doesn't take much to be visible compared to space.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

Oh wow that's really cool! I didn't know.

It's about one millionth of the pressure of earth's atmosphere at sea level.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I don’t think any planet^1^ has surprised us more than Pluto.

^1^ I know. If anyone gets pedantic, they’re reclassified as a dwarf clown.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Pluto's atmosphere has been studied since the 1980s, using spectroscopy and stellar occultation (watching starlight flicker as Pluto passed in front of it). It wasn't a surprise when New Horizons observed it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

I wasn’t thinking about the atmosphere. I meant in general, Pluto surprised more than other first fly-bys. Uranus is obviously extra weird in a lot of ways but who was expecting Pluto to be as interesting?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

The Old Adventures of the New Horizons

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 hours ago

Probably reflection of light from the other side if I had to guess.