Physics
Scientific paper
Oct 1980
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1980icar...44...53t&link_type=abstract
Icarus, vol. 44, Oct. 1980, p. 53-61.
Physics
24
Atmospheric Composition, Methane, Planetary Atmospheres, Pluto (Planet), Solidified Gases, Sublimation, Atmospheric Density, Atmospheric Physics, Atmospheric Temperature, Mass Transfer, Tritons
Scientific paper
The presence of CH4 ice on Pluto implies that Pluto may have a substantial atmosphere consisting of heavy gases. Without such an atmosphere, sublimation of the CH4 ice would be so rapid on a cosmogonic time scale that either such an atmosphere would soon develop through the exposure of gases trapped in the CH4 ice or else the surface CH4 ice would soon be all sublimated away as other, more stable, ices became exposed. If such stable ices were present from the beginning, the existence of CH4 frosts would also imply that Pluto's present atmosphere contains a remnant of its primordial atmosphere.
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