Plutos New Moons Part 2, News ... |
Plutos New Moons Part 2, News ... |
Dec 21 2005, 01:51 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 531 Joined: 24-August 05 Member No.: 471 |
Orbits and photometry of Pluto's satellites: Charon, S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0512491 Orbital periods: Charon - 6.3872304 +/- 0.0000011 days S/2005 P2 - 24.8562 +/- 0.0013 days S/2005 P1 - 38.2065 +/- 0.0014 days Note: The old thread - http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...wtopic=1622&hl= -------------------- - blue_scape / Nico -
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Feb 22 2006, 09:33 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 30-January 05 Member No.: 162 |
Possibility exists for elongated craters on Pluto for orbitally decayed former satellites. (some theories for the similar craters on Mars cite this).
The deep but very thin Plutonian atmosphere will have had a considerable effect on any past rings of Pluto. I don't think between atmospheric effects and the dynamical ring spreading process we have any hope of seeing currrent rings around Pluto. That there may be some smallish satelllites interior of Charon seems feasible, but nothing close to Pluto. I haven't seen any current estimates, but atmospheric drag effects up to the top of the Plutonian Roche limit seem quite likely. As to a ring system in the past, why not? (well, more on that shortly) Any impact scenario that can loft Charon is most likely to have been a 'messy' process. Recent density measurements of Charon, to me, imply Charon may be substantially 'de-volatized', not unlike earth's moon. A ring system eroded from atmospheric effects will be an interesting process to think about. Unlike Iapetus (if you think the equatorial structure is an orbitally decayed ring system), the material would be essentially evenly distributed around the equator. And during its' deposition, would be subject to cross winds (seasonal breezes?) too. A 'blunter' structure may be expected. Additionally, if the impact that birthed Charon (should that be the case) did release a large quantity of volatiles that persisted in the Plutonian vicinity, the formation of a ring system (the collapse of randomly inclined orbit debris to the LaPlacian plane) was most likely disrupted. Funny how my thinking changed while typing this out. Atmospheric drag effects on an existing ring system are one thing, but drag effects during the formation of the ring system seem to be quite a hurdle for any ring scenario at Pluto. Now as to rings around Charon . . . . |
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