What does Pluto’s blue haze originate from?

Image of Pluto’s atmosphere color backlit by sunlight from New Horizons mission (SOURCE)

Within the past year, new theories and suggestions have been proposed as to why Pluto’s atmosphere appears to have a blue haze. Before we get into any of the results from this theory, it is important to understand how we even got here in the first place. In a recent video that we watched in class, Dr. Stern explains the purpose of the New Horizons mission in exploring the dwarf planets and other objects in our outer solar system and the Kuiper belt in general. One image, which is shown at the top of the page, shows Pluto’s atmosphere resembling a blueish haze color which in actuality is not that surprising. This same mission revealed hazes on multiple icy worlds such as Titan, Triton, and we have discovered hazes on planets such as Venus, Mars and so on. While it may be very easy to assume that if two worlds have similar color in their hazes they may be form the same origin of properties, scientists are told to check the facts and find out for sure. And thankfully they did, because in actuality the properties between Titan, Triton, and Pluto are all vastly different when it comes to creating the hazes that they display. In conclusion, scientists suggest that Pluto’s atmosphere gets its blue haze from, “icy organic compounds,” which are different from the origins of both Titan and Triton. (Space) All in all though, this three way comparison allows us to truly grasp that there are important differences that are needed to be taken into account when considering the mechanisms in which hazes from in planetary atmospheres. (Space) Did any of this information surprise you? Comment down below and thanks for reading!