"In science, no matter how confident we are in our theories, there's no substitute for interrogating the natural world by asking it questions about itself directly: through observation and experiment. Sometimes, that requires setting up conditions in a laboratory to create certain events whose outcomes we can measure to whatever precision we desire. At other times, however, it requires looking out into space - at the natural laboratory of the Universe - to observe how nature behaves. No matter what our expectations were beforehand, there's no substitute for actual data in figuring out how things actually are."
"Although Pluto was the first object ever discovered out beyond Neptune, spotted way back in 1930 for the very first time, its atmosphere was only directly discovered and measured in 1988: when an observatory in Earth's southern hemisphere observed it occulting, or passing in front of, a background star. While many other Kuiper belt occultations have occurred since, only Pluto had ever been shown to have an atmosphere, rendering it unique among the known trans-Neptunian objects."
"Until now. In an all new 2026 study led by Ko Arimatsu, one of the smaller Kuiper belt objects known, , was precisely observed from three separate locations during a 2024 stellar occultation, and was determined to have an atmosphere, after all. This makes it the second known Kuiper belt object, after Pluto, to have an atmosphere. Here's how we figured it out, and what it just might mean for the fields of astronomy and planetary science."
"When we think about the bodies in our Solar System, what we view today is the end result of a 4.5+ billion year tale of survival. Early on, when our planets, moons, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects were forming out of the protoplanetary material that surrounded our young Sun, there were many volatiles present: molecules that would eventually be vaporized, sublimated, or otherwise evaporated away by too much energetic radiation, such as direct sunlight."
Science relies on observation and experiment to test nature directly, whether in laboratories or by studying space. Pluto’s atmosphere was first measured in 1988 through stellar occultation, when it passed in front of a background star. Many Kuiper belt occultations have occurred, but only Pluto had confirmed atmospheric evidence among known trans-Neptunian objects. A 2026 study reports that a smaller Kuiper belt object was precisely observed from three locations during a 2024 stellar occultation and was found to have an atmosphere. This makes it the second known Kuiper belt object with an atmosphere after Pluto. The findings relate to how Solar System bodies retain or lose volatiles over billions of years.
Read at Big Think
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]