James Webb Finally Looked at Pluto. It's Stranger Than We Thought.

Sep 30, 2025
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After years of mystery, the James Webb Space Telescope has finally turned its powerful gaze toward Pluto—and what it found is shocking. New data reveals surprising details about Pluto’s thin atmosphere, overturning long-held assumptions and raising new questions about this icy world. Even more exciting? These revelations could unlock secrets about the most exotic moons in our Solar System.

RESEARCH PAPER: Bertrand, T., Lellouch, E., Holler, B. et al. Evidence of haze control of Pluto’s atmospheric heat balance from JWST/MIRI thermal light curves. Nat Astron 9, 1300–1308 (2025)
– https://sou42.co/42e0R6d

💻 Created and Produced By: Rishabh Nakra
✍🏻 Written By: Simran Buttar and Rishabh Nakra
🔎 Researched By: Simran Buttar
🎙️ Narrated By: Jeffrey Smith
👩🏻‍💻 2D Animations: Prakriti Eeshika
🌐 3D Animations: Orkun Zengin

📌 Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction
01:54 We Need to Launch
03:21 Pluto's Toxic Haze
06:10 The Mystery
09:24 The Crazy Idea
11:08 We Have the Right Tool
12:37 Decoding the IR Light
13:58 Pluto's Haze Matters
16:57 Beyond Pluto