• DOI:10.1038/nature01766
• Corpus ID: 7334717

Large changes in Pluto's atmosphere as revealed by recent stellar occultations

@article{Sicardy2003LargeCI,
  title={Large changes in Pluto's atmosphere as revealed by recent stellar occultations},
  author={Bruno Sicardy and Thomas Widemann and Emmanuel Lellouch and Christian Veillet and J-C. Cuillandre and F. Colas and Françoise Roques and Wolfgang Beisker and M. Kretlow and Anne-Marie Lagrange and Eric Gendron and François Lacombe and J. J. Lecacheux and C. Birnbaum and A. Fienga and C{\'e}dric Leyrat and A. J. Maury and Emilie Raynaud and Scott Renner and Mathias Schultheis and K. Brooks and Audrey C. Delsanti and Olivier R. Hainaut and Roberto Gilmozzi and Christopher E. Lidman and Jason Spyromilio and Michel Rapaport and Paul Rosenzweig and Orlando Naranjo and L. Porras and F. D{\'i}az and H. Calder{\'o}n and Sergio Carrillo and Alfonso Carvajal and E. Recalde and L. Gaviria Cavero and Carlos Montalvo and Daniela Barr{\'i}a and R. Campos and Ren{\'e} Duffard and H. Levato},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2003},
  volume={424},
  pages={168-170}
}

• B. Sicardy, T. Widemann, +38 authors H. Levato
• Published 10 July 2003
• Physics, Geology, Environmental Science
• Nature

Pluto's tenuous nitrogen atmosphere was first detected by the imprint left on the light curve of a star that was occulted by the planet in 1985 (ref. 1), and studied more extensively during a second occultation event in 1988 (refs 2–6). These events are, however, quite rare and Pluto's atmosphere remains poorly understood, as in particular the planet has not yet been visited by a spacecraft. Here we report data from the first occultations by Pluto since 1988. We find that, during the intervening 14 years, there seems to have been a doubling of the atmospheric pressure, a probable seasonal effect on Pluto.