Extended Data Fig. 4: Modeling of optical and 15 µm Pluto lightcurves.
From: Evidence of haze control of Pluto’s atmospheric heat balance from JWST/MIRI thermal light curves
(Top left). Modelling of the 2002-2003 optical lightcurve observed by50 using the distribution of Bond albedos from42. A Lunar-Lambert model with A = 0.8 and a phase integral q = 1.04 were adopted. Black: data. Blue: model. (Top right). Blue: optical lightcurve calculated for the geometry of Oct. 2022. Red: adjusted 15 µm albedo lightcurve (see text). (Bottom left). Differential, and corrected for (virtually negligible) thermal emission, 15 µm observed lightcurve, compared to models using (i) an albedo following the visible lightcurve (blue) and (ii) the adjusted 15 µm albedo lightcurve (red). The adjusted 15 µm albedo profile somewhat improves the 15 µm contrasts, and its value at L ~ 342 matches the value indicated by the MIRI/MRS spectrum. (Bottom right) 15 µm observed lightcurve (black) and model fit (red). The green, blue, and cyan curves indicate the respective contributions of: (green) surface thermal emission (blue) solar reflected component (cyan) haze and gas thermal emission, assumed constant with longitude.
