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Pluto

Pluto. Geography 441/541 S/16 Dr. Christine M. Rodrigue. New Horizons Visits Pluto. Planetary structure. New Horizons Visits Pluto. Ice volcanoes? Wright and Picard montes: What kind of volatile would erupt? Heat source?. New Horizons Visits Pluto. Atmosphere Composition: ~90% N 2

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Pluto

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  1. C.M. Rodrigue, 2016 Geography, CSULB Pluto Geography 441/541 S/16 Dr. Christine M. Rodrigue

  2. C.M. Rodrigue, 2016 Geography, CSULB New Horizons Visits Pluto • Planetary structure

  3. C.M. Rodrigue, 2016 Geography, CSULB New Horizons Visits Pluto • Ice volcanoes? • Wright and Picard montes: • What kind of volatile would erupt? • Heat source?

  4. C.M. Rodrigue, 2016 Geography, CSULB New Horizons Visits Pluto • Atmosphere • Composition: • ~90% N2 • ~10% other gasses • CH4 • CO • derivatives • - ethane, ethylene, acetelyne, hydrogen cyanide • - formed from N2, CH4, CO (cosmic rays) • - may include tholins • - once formed, precipitate onto surface • probably all of the atmosphere freezes onto surface going toward aphelion • at perihelion, ices sublimate to form an atmosphere, which NH caught

  5. C.M. Rodrigue, 2016 Geography, CSULB New Horizons Visits Pluto • Atmosphere • Temperature structure: • thin boundary layer < 1 km • stratosphere with temperatures rising with altitude to ~30 km to ~100-110 K (greenhouse effect of methane) • mesosphere with temperatures cooling with altitude to ~ 200 km and then stable at ~80 K: no thermosphere

  6. C.M. Rodrigue, 2016 Geography, CSULB New Horizons Visits Pluto • Atmosphere • Pressure: • very low (dekapascals) • climbing through time as N pole points to sun and N2 sublimates • S pole will experience its freezing eventually but not yet, so pressure rises • over billions of years, this may ablate atmosphere as sun forces sublimation and there's no source of replenishment (much like a comet)

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