INTRODUCTION Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was long thought to be a misfit or
anomaly in the solar system. However, the 1992 discovery of the Kuiper Belt—a torus …

Amateur contributions to professional publications have increased exponentially over the
last decades in the field of planetary astronomy. Here we review the different domains of the …

INTRODUCTION For several decades, telescopic observations have shown that Pluto has a
complex and intriguing atmosphere. But too little has been known to allow a complete …

Abstract The New Horizons spacecraft will achieve a wide range of measurement objectives
at the Pluto system, including color and panchromatic maps, 1.25–2.50 micron spectral …

ABSTRACT A re view of the re search lit erature concerning the en vi ron men tal con se
quences of in creased lev els of at mo spheric carbon di oxide leads to the con clusion that …

Abstract Observations of the Pluto-Charon system, acquired with the ALMA interferometer on
June 12–13, 2015, have led to the detection of the CO (3-2) and HCN (4-3) rotational …

Abstract On 14 July 2015 New Horizons performed a radio occultation (RO) that sounded
Pluto's atmosphere down to the surface. The sensitivity of the measurements was enhanced …

The surface of Pluto as it is understood on the eve of the encounter of the New Horizons
spacecraft (mid-2015) consists of a spatially heterogeneous mix of solid N 2, CH 4, CO, C 2 …

Stellar occultations—the passing of a relatively nearby body in front of a background star—
can be used to probe the atmosphere of the closer body with a spatial resolution of a few …

Context. Pluto possesses a thin atmosphere, primarily composed of nitrogen, in which the
detection of methane has been reported. Aims. The goal is to constrain essential but so far …