• A distant icy object (612533) 2002 XV93 in the Kuiper Belt may have an extremely thin atmosphere.
  • The object, about 500 km in diameter, is the smallest known object in the solar system claimed to have an atmosphere.
  • The atmosphere could be 5-10 million times thinner than Earth’s and contain methane, nitrogen, or carbon monoxide.
  • The discovery is based on stellar occultation observations in 2024.
  • Confirmation could come from James Webb Space Telescope observations.

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