"Carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide have been detected on Charon through the James Webb Space Telescope. This breakthrough adds significant details to our understanding of the moon’s surface and its environmental processes. Credit: S. Protopapa/SwRI/NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/JHUAPL" (ScitechDaily, Webb Telescope Uncovers Carbon Dioxide and Peroxide on Pluto’s Moon Charon)
Pluto and its moon Charon are very far away from Earth. There is almost no sunlight. And the temperature on their surface is almost zero kelvin. The chemical reactions are thought to be impossible in that distant, strange world. But the signs of CO2 and peroxides show that there are some kind of chemical reactions in those distant worlds. When we think about those distant dwarf planets called "plutoids" we must realize that conditions around and on those dwarf planets are different than on Earth.
In distant worlds near the Kuiper belt, those dwarf planets can collect atmospheres around them. Most of the solar wind particles are ions and anions that the dwarf planet can trap around it. Those particles can form an ion whirl around those small objects. That ion whirl acts similar way as the ion whirl acts around black holes. It forms the ion generator that forms the magnetic field around plutoids. And even if that magnetic field is weaker than around Earth the reaction that forms a magnetic field around Quaoar forms a magnetic field around black holes.
The conditions around Pluto, Charon, and Quaoar are not similar. The reason why Quaoar has a ring system, but Pluto does not is the Charon's and Pluto'smutual gravity effect that denies ring formation. Quaoar is a lone dwarf planet and that means its clear gravity center in its environment.
"Artist impress of Quaoar rings. Credit: Paris Observator" (ScitechDaily, Space Mystery: Unexpected New Ring System Discovered in Our Own Solar System)
The thing is that the gas layer or atmosphere around the low-gravity objects is not stable. Things like energy impulses from the Sun or outside the solar system or flyby the large asteroid or cosmic impact can strip that ion curtain from around the dwarf planet. And that's why all dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt don't have those thin atmospheres.
Gas pressure around Pluto is <0,01 kPa, but that allows ions and anions to move freely. Ions and anions pull each other together even in low-pressure conditions. That thing can form CO2 and more complicated chemical compounds.
The thin atmosphere that forms when those objects pull gas and ions around them remains because the solar wind will not blow those atoms and ions away. The gas pressure is so low that it's hard to reach in the laboratory. That gas and ion layer forms a magnetic field around plutoids. And it causes things like ring systems around those objects. An example of those systems is the dwarf planet Quaoar which has a similar, but smaller ring system than Saturn.
If those objects are closer to the Sun the solar wind blows them away. In those low-pressure conditions gas and ions are near the quantum condition. In that low-pressure condition ions and anions pull each other together. The weak sunlight gives them the energy to travel against each other. And if as an example the carbon ion faces an oxygen anion that thing can cause a chemical reaction that forms carbon dioxide. The reaction is similar to that on Earth. But some fewer ions and anions participate in it.
https://scitechdaily.com/space-mystery-unexpected-new-ring-system-discovered-in-our-own-solar-system/
https://scitechdaily.com/webb-telescope-uncovers-carbon-dioxide-and-peroxide-on-plutos-moon-charon/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto
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