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The James Webb Space Telescope has detected an unexplained chemical signature on Pluto that does not match any substance currently listed in scientists\u2019 standard spectral libraries, creating a new mystery at the frozen edge of the solar system. The feature appears at a wavelength of approximately 5.11 micrometers, where an unidentified material absorbs infrared light. Researchers found the signal in Webb observations collected with both the Near-Infrared Spectrograph and the Mid-Infrared Instrument, making a simple detector error unlikely. Even more surprisingly, an absorption feature at almost exactly the same wavelength was also detected on Titan, Saturn\u2019s largest moon.<\/p>\n
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On paper, these worlds should have little in common. Titan is wrapped in a thick nitrogen atmosphere, possesses lakes and seas of liquid methane and continuously produces organic haze. Pluto is much smaller, dramatically colder and surrounded by an atmosphere so thin that it expands when the dwarf planet approaches the Sun and partially freezes as it travels away. Yet both environments contain nitrogen, methane and carbon-rich chemistry driven by sunlight and energetic radiation. The matching feature therefore suggests that a similar chemical process may operate on two extremely different worlds. Scientists believe the absorption probably comes from material on or near the surface rather than from atmospheric gas.<\/p>\n
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On Titan, it is about six to seven percent deep and relatively narrow, while Pluto\u2019s version is weaker and approximately three times broader, possibly because the compound is mixed with different ices or exists under different physical conditions. Researchers compared the signal with laboratory measurements of simple planetary ices but found no convincing match. One possibility is a compound belonging to the allene family of hydrocarbons, which can absorb light near the same wavelength. However, many complex organic molecules have never been measured under the frigid temperatures and unusual chemical conditions found on Pluto, leaving major gaps in existing databases.<\/p>\n
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The material could also be a familiar molecule whose spectral fingerprint has shifted because it is trapped inside nitrogen, methane or another type of ice. Despite the dramatic headline, Webb has not detected an impossible object, alien technology or definitive evidence of life. \u201cImpossible\u201d in this case means that the feature cannot yet be explained using the reference data available to researchers. Nor has Webb photographed a glowing structure on Pluto\u2019s surface; it separated the object\u2019s chemical information from its infrared spectrum while observing across billions of kilometers.<\/p>\n