A thin atmosphere on a small world beyond Pluto

Nature Astronomy, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41550-026-02866-x Stellar occultation observations reveal that the trans-Neptunian object 2002 XV93, which has a radius of only ~250 km, is surrounded by a very tenuous atmosphere. The result shows that even a small distant icy body can host a detectable atmosphere, at least transiently.