James Webb telescope may have discovered a never-before-seen substance on Pluto and Titan

Key Points:

• New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have detected a mysterious absorption line at 5.11 micrometers in the spectra of both Pluto and Saturn's moon Titan, suggesting the presence of an unknown molecule not seen on other solar system bodies or exoplanets.
• This absorption feature is unusual because Pluto and Titan are vastly different worlds, with Pluto being a frozen dwarf planet and Titan a large moon with liquid rivers and oceans, yet both share methane- and nitrogen-rich atmospheres and this unidentified surface molecule.
• The absorption line is about three times stronger on Pluto than on Titan, where it is unevenly distributed and stronger on Titan’s trailing hemisphere, indicating varying abundance or distribution of the unknown molecule.
• Researchers hypothesize the molecule could be benzene mixed with another compound, or forms of acetylene or ketene ice, but further studies are needed to confirm its identity.
• NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly mission to Titan, planned for the 2030s, may help identify the molecule with its onboard spectrograph, potentially shedding light on the nature of this mysterious compound on both Titan and Pluto.