How about some real science?
(612533) 2002 XV93, is supposed to be too small and too cold to sustain an atmosphere. At about 311 miles across — a little wider than the Grand Canyon is long — the object is more than four times smaller than Pluto, which was thought to be the only body beyond Neptune with an atmosphere in our solar system.
by fried-raptor
1 Comment
This is true and it’s revolutionary. Here’s the data from a peer-reviewed study published 2 days ago:
[Detection of an atmosphere on a trans-Neptunian object beyond Pluto](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02846-1?hl=en-US)
>”The only trans-Neptunioan object (TNO) with a detected atmosphere so far is Pluto, which has an average surface pressure of 10 μbar. Investigations of other large (>500 km) TNOs have only been able to establish upper limits of 1–100 nbar.
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>A recent near-infrared study reported methane gas emission from Makemake, although its origin remains uncertain. Here we report that a stellar occultation campaign performed on 10 January 2024 of the ~250-km-radius plutino (612533) 2002 XV93 reveals a refractive signature, indicating a thin atmosphere.
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>We derive a surface pressure of 100–200 nbar, above the previous limits for other larger bodies. This discovery shows that even a few-hundred-kilometre TNO can host, at least transiently, an atmosphere, challenging standard volatile-retention scenarios.
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>Our findings suggest that a fraction of distant icy minor planets can exhibit atmospheres, potentially sustained by ongoing cryovolcanic activity or produced by a recent impact of a small icy object.”