DEVASTHAL OBSERVATORY AND PLUTO                    

Disclaimer: Copyright infringement not intended.

Context:

• A team of scientists, including Indian and International collaborators, have derived the accurate value of Pluto’s atmospheric pressure at its surface. It is more than 80,000 times less than the atmospheric pressure at mean sea level on Earth.

Devasthal Observatory:

• Devasthal is an observatory in the district of Nainital in Uttarakhand state of India.
• The observatory is situated in the Kumaon Himalayan region at an altitude of 2450 meters.
• Devasthal is a 6-m Devasthal optical telescope (DOT) - India’s largest optical telescope.
• Currently, a 130-cm optical telescope is working at the site. The sites are managed by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital.

Findings:

Atmospheric pressure

• The scientists derived derived an accurate value of Pluto’s atmospheric pressure at its surface. It was found to be 12.23 μbar. They also found that the pressure at the surface is close to the seasonal peak of Pluto.

Seasonal Episodes

• The study confirms earlier findings that Pluto suffers intense seasonal episodes because of large depression on Pluto, known as Sputnik Planitia.

Pluto Poles

• Pluto’s poles remain, for decades, in permanent sunlight or darkness over its 248-year long orbital period leading to strong effects on its Nitrogen (N2) atmosphere that is mainly controlled by vapour pressure equilibrium with the surface N2 ice.
• Moreover, as Pluto is now moving away from the Galactic plane as seen from Earth, stellar occultations by the dwarf planet are becoming increasingly rare, making this event a decisive one.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1798796