The \'haze\' over the surface is Pluto\'s atmosphere An artist\'s impression based on data from the European Southern Observatory shows what a sunny day on the distant dwarf planet Pluto might look like. On average, Pluto is 40 times further from the sun than the Earth is.From Pluto, our sun would be 1,000 times dimmer than it is seen from Earth. The dwarf planet\'s surface is covered with patches of frozen methane, with a hazy atmosphere including methane gas.
The computer-generated artist\'s impression is based on one possible idea of what Pluto\'s surface is like, where the surface is covered with patches of methane. In another idea, the whole surface is covered by a thin layer of methane frost.
Pluto, which is about a fifth the size of Earth, is composed primarily of rock and ice.
The surface is about -220C. But the atmosphere above it is much warmer in places, according to measurements taken by the European Southern Observatory in 2009, when the video was made.
\'With lots of methane in the atmosphere, it becomes clear why Pluto\'s atmosphere is so warm,’ said Emmanuel Lellouch, lead author of the paper reporting the results. The upper atmosphere is about 50 degrees warmer than the surface.
‘It is fascinating to think that with CRIRES we are able to precisely measure traces of a gas on an object five times smaller than our planet and located at the edge of the Solar System,’ says co-author Hans-Ulrich Käufl.
‘The combination of CRIRES and the VLT is almost like having an advanced atmospheric research satellite orbiting Pluto.’