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Published March 18, 2016 | Supplemental Material + Accepted Version
Journal Article Open

The atmosphere of Pluto as observed by New Horizons

Abstract

In July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft flew through the Pluto system at high speed, humanity's first close look at this enigmatic system on the outskirts of our solar system. In a series of papers, the New Horizons team present their analysis of the encounter data downloaded so far: Moore et al. present the complex surface features and geology of Pluto and its large moon Charon, including evidence of tectonics, glacial flow, and possible cryovolcanoes. Grundy et al. analyzed the colors and chemical compositions of their surfaces, with ices of H_2O, CH_4, CO, N_2, and NH_3 and a reddish material which may be tholins. Gladstone et al. investigated the atmosphere of Pluto, which is colder and more compact than expected and hosts numerous extensive layers of haze. Weaver et al. examined the small moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra, which are irregularly shaped, fast-rotating, and have bright surfaces. Bagenal et al. report how Pluto modifies its space environment, including interactions with the solar wind and a lack of dust in the system. Together, these findings massively increase our understanding of the bodies in the outer solar system. They will underpin the analysis of New Horizons data, which will continue for years to come.

Additional Information

© 2016 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 16 November 2015; accepted 17 February 2016. We thank the NASA's New Horizons project for their excellent and long-term support. We thank our colleagues B. Bézard, J. Erwin, F. Forget, M. Gurwell, S. Gusewich, C. Hansen, A. Heays, K. L. Jessup, V. Krasnopolsky, E. Lellouch, B. Lewis, B. Sicardy, G. Stark, K. Stothoff, A. Toigo, R. Vervack, and R. Yelle for excellent advice, data, and useful comments. We thank the reviewers for their very useful comments. S.A.S. is also affiliated with Florida Space Institute, Uwingu, Golden Spike Co., and World View Enterprises. N.J.C. was a paid consultant to Southwest Research Institute. As contractually agreed to with NASA, fully calibrated New Horizons Pluto system data will be released via the NASA Planetary Data System at https://pds.nasa.gov in a series of stages in 2016 and 2017 owing to the time required to fully downlink and calibrate the data set.

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Accepted Version - 1604.05356.pdf

Supplemental Material - Gladstone-SM.pdf

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Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
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October 18, 2023