Tuesday, 10 January 2017

How Pluto's atmosphere is spared by a moon shield

Charon (top) and Pluto are only separated by about 12,000 mi (19,300 km)

For a demoted dwarf planet hanging about at the edge of the Solar System, Pluto has been presenting scientists with many surprises. Not the least of these is that it not only has an atmosphere, but it's losing it a lot slower than previously thought. According to a team of researchers at Georgia Tech, this is due to Pluto's largest moon, Charon, which acts as a sort of intermittent shield protecting Pluto from the solar wind.

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Category: Space

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