Atmosphere of Pluto by the spacecraft "New Horizons". The main component of the atmosphere of Pluto is nitrogen. Content of methane, according to measurements by "New Horizons", is 0.25%. For carbon monoxide, the Earth-based estimates are (2010) and (2015). Under influence of high-energy cosmic radiation, these gases react to form more complex compounds (not volatile at Pluto's surface temperatures), including ethane (CH), ethylene (CH), acetylene (CH), heavier hydrocarbons and nitriles and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) (amount of ethylene is about 0.0001%, and amount of acetylene is about 0.0003%). These compounds slowly precipitate on the surface. Probably, they also include tholins, which are responsible for
Future of Earth for about 5,000 years. Thus, a brief period of global warming induced through a few centuries worth of greenhouse gas emission would only have a limited impact in the long term. The tidal acceleration of the Moon slows the rotation rate of the Earth and increases the Earth-Moon distance. Friction effects—between the core and mantle and between the atmosphere and surface—can dissipate the Earth's rotational energy. These combined effects are expected to increase the length of the day by more than 1.5 hours over the next 250 million years, and to increase the obliquity by about a half degree. The