Pluto’s atmosphere update! It’s thinning

Scientists detected Pluto's atmosphere is thinning as it moves farther away from the sun in its orbit. They did so when Pluto passed in front of distant stars.

It’s a backlit view of Pluto, acquired by the New Horizons spacecraft as it sped away from the dwarf planet after its 2015 flyby. New Horizons observed Pluto’s atmosphere in 2015 as “thin. ” The spacecraft found a mostly nitrogen atmosphere for this dwarf planet.

Scientists detected the change while watching Pluto pass in front of distant stars, during what are called “occultations. ” Pluto’s atmosphere is thinning On July 31. 2026, a team of scientists led by Amanda Sickafoose at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson.

Arizona, published peer-reviewed findings showing that Pluto’s atmospheric pressure decreased by 16% between mid-2021 and July 2023. But we knew before New Horizons that Pluto’s atmosphere should thicken and thin in a 248-year cycle, as this tiny outer world (with its greatly elongated orbit) moves closer to and then farther from the sun.

Planetary Science Institute | Discovery & Public Education in P. (@psi. edu. web. brid. gy) 2026-07-31T18: 04: 54.000Z Measuring Pluto’s thinning atmosphere The new study examined how Pluto’s atmosphere has changed between 2017 and 2023. | This image from New Horizons on July 14, 2015 shows the hazes in Pluto’s ultra-thin atmosphere.

Lead author Amanda Sickafoose at the Planetary Science Institute and her colleagues have observed 10 such occultations since 2017.

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