Pluto seems like the dwarf planet that, at this point, is messing with us. Ice volcanoes? Icebergs? Liquid nitrogen seas? Oh, and now clouds.
Clouds may not seem weird. You can look up and see them now. But Pluto has an atmosphere that is 100,000 times less thick than Earth's. For comparison, even the thin, tenuous atmosphere of Mars (which can have sparing cloud cover) is one percent that of Earth's, making Mars seem like a deep undersea expedition by comparison to Pluto.
New Scientist received emails from the New Horizons team, speculating on what the clouds are made of. Pluto was known to have thin hazes rising from the surface, likely the result of sublimation of surface ices. But the clouds are something new entirely, and there's not much speculation as to what they may be. They appear to be freestanding clouds, rather than vapor coming from the surface, and are likely pushed around by winds on the atmosphere.
There hasn't been a public statement by the team on the clouds, just internal speculation, Jacob Aron at New Scientist reports. Clouds were mentioned in passing in one scientific paper. It may be because there's some speculation, but not overtly solid evidence as of yet. But regardless, Pluto is now the only Kuiper Belt Object known to not only have an atmosphere, but also clouds in that atmosphere. There may be some weirder weather than we thought at Pluto.
Source: New Scientist
