Scientists Watch as a Distant World’s Atmosphere Shrinks and Thins

A New Horizons parting shot of Pluto's thin, hazy atmosphere as it appeared in 2015. Scientists are measuring starlight as it streams through the atmosphere to get information about how the blanket of nitrogen and other gases is changing as Pluto moves farther from the Sun. Courtesy New Horizons, NASA. Public domain.

As dwarf planet Pluto moves along in its distant, high-obliquity 248-year orbit, its atmosphere is changing. That’s because it’s beginning to travel through colder, darker parts of the outer Solar System for the next 88 years. As a consequence, the mostly-nitrogen atmosphere is expected to grow gradually thinner and eventually freeze out over the coming decades. When that happens, the atmosphere will shrink.

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