Atmosphere detected on a distant Kuiper belt object during stellar occultation
TL;DR
A three-site stellar occultation of the ~250-km-radius trans-Neptunian object 2002 XV93 on 2024-01-10 revealed a refractive signature indicating a thin atmosphere with surface pressure around 100–200 nanobars, marking the first atmospheric detection beyond Pluto for a body of this size. This shows that even relatively small, distant icy worlds can host transient atmospheres, potentially sustained by cryovolcanic activity or a recent impact, and challenges standard ideas about volatile retention in the outer Solar System.
Topics:sciencespace#2002-xv93#atmosphere#cryovolcanism#space#stellar-occultation#trans-neptunian-object
- Detection of an atmosphere on a trans-Neptunian object beyond Pluto Nature
- Thin atmosphere detected around distant object beyond Pluto CNN
- Astronomers believe they’ve detected an atmosphere around a tiny, icy world beyond Pluto NBC News
- Atmosphere detected on celestial body in solar system's far reaches Reuters
- A tiny world beyond Neptune has an atmosphere that shouldn't exist Phys.org
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