Pluto's Blue Haze Not Just a Visual Spectacle But an Important Climatic Factor, Study Suggests
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made another breakthrough discovery, and this time, its focus is the former planet Pluto. Insights from the JWST have helped researchers discover more about the haze that surrounds the now dwarf planet, according to Live Science. Researchers are hopeful that more understanding of this haze could shed more light on similar planets. Findings regarding this haze have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The multi-layered haze over Pluto was first speculated by readings undertaken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft that travelled past the dwarf planet in 2015. At once, the bluish haze intrigued the astronomers. Observations suggested that the haze was 185 miles (300 kilometers) above the dwarf planet's surface. Though the experts were expecting such a formation, they were surprised by its intricate nature and elevation. Recent data collected by JWST indicate that this haze is not just a visual phenomenon and, in fact, influences Pluto's climate.
Analysis of data collected by JWST showcases that hazy sky is actively cooling Pluto's atmosphere, according to Space. The cooling was earlier detected in Pluto's mesosphere, the third layer of the atmosphere. As per reports, the layer is between 12.4 to 24.9 miles (20 km and 40 km) in height and exhibits the maximum temperature of minus 163 degrees Celsius (110 Kelvin/minus 262 degrees Fahrenheit). For every 0.6 miles (1 km), the temperature drops by 0.2 degrees Celsius, reaching its coldest at minus 203 degrees Celsius (70 Kelvin/minus 334 degrees Fahrenheit).
Based on the state of energy exhibited by Pluto, experts speculated that the haze must be facilitating a cooling effect. "Based on New Horizon's temperature observations from 2015, we found that gas heating significantly exceeds gas cooling," Planetary scientist Xi Zhang of the University of California, Santa Cruz, explained. "So there is a net radiative heating of the atmosphere. To maintain energy balance under these conditions, the haze must provide the necessary net radiative cooling." Along with cooling, the phenomenon is also supposedly pushing out methane and other organic molecules from Pluto's atmosphere. Some of these molecules are then collected by Pluto's largest moon, Charon. This leaking of methane was predicted in 2015 by planetary scientist Will Grundy at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona.
Based on the readings taken by New Horizons, Grundy estimated that Pluto was losing 1.3 kilograms (2.9 pounds) of methane every second, 2.5% of which was being collected by Charon. This collection was evident due to red stains on Charon's poles, which possibly reflected organic chemistry. The discovery stunned experts, as this was the first time they noted such a transfer in the solar system. Zhang claimed that a layer of haze could be the reason behind the leaking, but the readings were not enough to confirm that the haze influenced the climate and was not just a visual oddity.
JWST, with its superior technology, has been able to determine that the haze is indeed influencing Pluto's climate, according to Futurism. Zhang claimed that if the haze truly impacted the environment, then Pluto would emit strong radiation in the mid-infrared spectrum. This radiation was successfully detected by JWST. In the past, other telescopes failed in this pursuit because they were unable to separate the temperature readings gathered from Pluto and Charon. JWST was able to do so and confirmed that the signals were coming from Pluto and, by extension, the haze was influencing the climate.
Scientists believe that further insights into this haze could provide them with more knowledge about how similar phenomena act on Saturn's moon, Titan, and Neptune's moon, Triton. Early Earth, too, maybe up for introspection, as it also possibly exhibited a similar environment over 2.4 billion years ago, which could have helped in the flourishing of life on the planet.