{"id":785491,"date":"2026-07-07T06:41:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785491\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T06:41:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:41:19","slug":"both-pluto-and-titan-share-a-mystery-molecule-thats-never-been-seen-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/785491\/","title":{"rendered":"Both Pluto and Titan Share a Mystery Molecule That’s Never Been Seen Before"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every element has<\/a> a unique set of absorption and emission lines that create spectral signatures. These signals are key information for astronomers studying faraway objects\u2014but what happens when there\u2019s no good match for a particular signature?<\/p>\n

While studying Pluto and Saturn\u2019s largest moon Titan, researchers spotted a missing band of light in their spectral signatures, specifically at the 5.11-micrometer line. However, after searching past datasets and literature, they weren\u2019t able to find any suitable matches for whatever molecule was responsible for this phenomenon. In other words, Pluto\u2019s and Titan\u2019s surfaces may harbor an unknown molecule\u2014a substance that we\u2019ve never seen anywhere else in our solar system and beyond.<\/p>\n

A paper detailing the results has been accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics and is currently available as a preprint<\/a> in arXiv.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a few candidates, but it will not be a simple compound,\u201d Bruno B\u00e9zard, the study\u2019s first author and a researcher at the Paris Observatory, told<\/a> New Scientist. \u201cWhatever it is, it will be a surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Close but far <\/p>\n

Pluto and Titan don\u2019t look much alike externally, but both<\/a> possess<\/a> nitrogen-rich atmospheres with some methane. Photochemical effects create a \u201cubiquitous organic haze\u201d that eventually trickles down to shape the surface morphology of Pluto and Titan, according to the paper. Researchers behind the latest paper selected a narrow spectral window least affected by the haze to investigate the surface beyond the foggy atmosphere.<\/p>\n

They probably weren\u2019t expecting to learn of an\u00a0unidentified substance, however. That Pluto and Titan share the same missing spectral band was fascinating on its own, but the team couldn\u2019t find a good match for the chemical compound responsible for this absorption. According to the data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the absorption line for Pluto is roughly three times thicker than Titan\u2019s, where the molecule causing this gap appears to be more unevenly distributed. This difference likely stems from the \u201cphysical state of the unknown compound at the molecular scale,\u201d the study noted.<\/p>\n

Waiting for Dragonfly <\/p>\n

The researchers scoured the literature to see if anything could be even remotely similar, and, to their credit, they did find some decent fits, such as \u201callenes and, if mixed with other species, benzene, ketene, or less likely acetylene,\u201d according to the paper. However, there isn\u2019t enough information available to determine whether the mystery compound is one of these candidates or none at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of onboard infrared spectroscopy capabilities prevents any direct observation of the spectral feature itself in surface materials,\u201d the researchers concluded.<\/p>\n

That said, the team told New Scientist that it had already secured more JWST data for follow-up investigations. Further down the line, NASA\u2019s Dragonfly mission is slated to reach Titan in the mid-2030s, and the hope is that the spacecraft will send back some new information about Titan\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every element has a unique set of absorption and emission lines that create spectral signatures. These signals are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[49,48,19729,2875,66,36051],"class_list":["post-785491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-planetary-science","tag-pluto","tag-science","tag-titan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}