alienation news

Pluto atmosphere heating as it moves further from the sun

The planet/Kuiper Belt body Pluto seems to be defying the laws of atmospheric physics, according to studies published in the British weekly journal Nature.
The most distant planet of the Solar System follows an egg-shaped path with agonising slowness as it crawls around the Sun, each orbit taking the equivalent of 248 Earth years.
In 1989, evidence emerged that Pluto had a thin atmosphere as it swung by on its closest point to the Sun (perihelion).
Since then, the planet has been pulling away from the Sun, which means that, in theory, its surface temperature should be falling and its atmosphere should be contracting. Atmospheric pressure depends on heat, because gases expand when the temperature rises.
But astronomers in the United States and France say the opposite is happening: not only has the atmosphere failed to collapse as expected, its pressure seems to have doubled over the past 14 years