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An important observation pertaining to the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Pluto has been made by a team of Indian scientists from the Devasthal observatory along with their international counterparts.

About the observation:

• It was found that the atmospheric pressure on the surface of Pluto is 80,000 times less than the atmospheric pressure at mean sea level on Earth. 
• The Devasthal optical telescope was used to provide data that helped in the calculation of the atmospheric pressure of Pluto. It was calculated by the observation of stellar occultation by Pluto on a particular day. 
• In astronomy, occultation occurs when a celestial object gets hidden from the view of the observer due to another celestial object passing in between them.
• Such an event has been observed in a compilation of twelve stellar occultations by Pluto within a span of 1988 and 2016. It has been observed that there is a three-fold monotonic increase of atmospheric pressure of Pluto. 
• An international team of scientists along with members from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences used signal to noise ratio to determine the atmospheric pressure at the surface of Pluto.
• The team explained further that this occultation was particularly timely as it can assess the current models of the atmospheric evolution of Pluto.

Facts about Pluto:

• It is categorised as the dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt which is a donut-shaped region of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. 
• It is 1400 miles wide and orbits the sun about 3.6 billion miles away on an average. 
• A year of Pluto consists of 248 Earth years and a day on Pluto lasts 153 hours.
• Its atmosphere is thin and has nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. 
• Pluto has 5 moons and the largest one is called Charon.
• It doesn’t have any ring system.
• New Horizons of NASA was the only spacecraft to visit Pluto. 
• The surface is harsh and cold  with a temperature of -378 to 396 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Devasthal Optical Telescope:

• It is 3.6 metre long clear aperture telescope which was built by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) and is located at the Devasthal Observatory near Nainital, Uttarakhand. 
• It has been built in collaboration with the Belgian firm Advanced Mechanical and Optical System. 
• It was activated remotely in 2016 by the Prime Ministers of India and Belgium. 
• ARIES operates another 1.3 m telescope at the same location. 
• This is presently the largest telescope in Asia.