This phenomenon, which in the near future could be called “Cloud Gate”, began with e-mails discussing the structure of a cloud in Pluto’s foggy atmosphere, based on an article published March 4 in the journal New Scientist (“New Scientist” ).
The figure above shows areas of an image attached to a letter sent by scientist John Spencer from the South-West Research Institute, in which he noted, in particular, the bright areas in the atmosphere of Pluto within the image obtained from the New Horizons station.
“The first image shows an extremely bright haze at a low altitude on the southeast satellite, on the left side. A discrete fuzzy cloud can be seen on the right against the background of the sunlit surface above Kroon Macula (I think), ”writes Spencer.
While after the New Horizons flyby Pluto in July 2015, Pluto’s complex atmosphere was quickly identified, containing layers of haze with a blue tint, some clouds were still unsolved. The situation can be changed thanks to high-resolution data that still continues to flow to Earth from a still-moving spacecraft (now it is 1.9 a. E, or about 180 million miles, done from Pluto). Unlike the clouds on Earth, Pluto’s cloud will not consist of water. They are likely to be made from particles of nitrogen ice along with methane and other compounds.
Clouds differ from haze (haze) in that haze is very diffuse and has a widespread suspension of particles, while the clouds are more concentrated and regional, and, as a rule, much less durable.
If so, then for the first time we will be able to confirm the actual presence of clouds on Pluto. Although no official confirmations or results have yet been announced or published by the teams of NASA or the New Horizons.
