Pluto System- NH Scientific Results |
Pluto System- NH Scientific Results |
Oct 15 2015, 06:46 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
out in Science (and in open access, thanks Alan!):
The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons |
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Oct 15 2015, 08:10 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1887 Joined: 20-November 04 From: Iowa Member No.: 110 |
QUOTE The bulk densities of Pluto and Charon were found to differ by less than 10%, which is consistent with bulk rock contents for the two bodies that are likewise similar. This could imply that both precursor bodies were undifferentiated (or only modestly differentiated) prior to their collision—which would have profound implications for the timing, the duration, and even the mechanism of accretion in the ancestral Kuiper Belt. Hmm... Formation after Al-26 decays? Formation of 100 km objects directly from chrondules? Hierarchical accretion of those or pebble accretion onto them? ETA: Pluto and Charon formed and grew as a double planet? |
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Oct 15 2015, 11:00 PM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3009 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
Thanks, alan.
These are very strange and wonderful worlds. --Bill -------------------- |
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Oct 15 2015, 11:23 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1057 Joined: 17-February 09 Member No.: 4605 |
......ETA: Pluto and Charon formed and grew as a double planet? Given that Pluto has an axial tilt around 122 degrees the more likely scenario is that the Pluto/Charon system formed as the result of a major collision. While the original bodies would have formed during solar system accretion we don't really know how long ago the Pluto/Charon system formed or indeed, how long ago Pluto finally became tidally locked. Spin down could have completed reasonably recent in geological terms which could explain some to the seemingly recent tectonic features. |
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Oct 15 2015, 11:26 PM
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#5
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 26-March 12 From: San Antonio, Texas Member No.: 6368 |
Mr Stern, thank you so much for this. I just want to thank you and everyone else involved with New Horizons and I look forward in the years to come to reading all your findings. I've been totally fascinated by this since New Horizons launched in January 2006.
James Sontag -------------------- Axes Grind and Maces Clash!
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Oct 16 2015, 08:31 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 532 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
Mr Stern, thank you so much for this. I just want to thank you and everyone else involved with New Horizons and I look forward in the years to come to reading all your findings. I've been totally fascinated by this since New Horizons launched in January 2006. James Sontag You're very welcome James, we are ecstatic to be able to explore, and to share the exploration broadly. |
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Oct 17 2015, 12:21 AM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3009 Joined: 30-October 04 Member No.: 105 |
And we are absolutely giddy with excitement of being able to walk in the footsteps and to look over the shoulders of you giants at these wonders. I remember the excitement of viewing the first Mariner Mars in newspaper halftone when the were released they next day. Even though the clarity of the NH images is several orders of magnitude improved, the thrill is still so similar.
--Bill -------------------- |
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Guest_MichaelPoole_* |
Oct 29 2015, 12:41 AM
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Guests |
I don't think the spin down of Pluto was recent. It wouldn't be in an almost totally circular tidal lock otherwise.
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Mar 17 2016, 06:26 PM
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#9
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
lots of papers on our beloved Pluto in tomorrow's Science. all but one in open access (come on, put all of them in open access!)
The small satellites of Pluto as observed by New Horizons The atmosphere of Pluto as observed by New Horizons Pluto’s interaction with its space environment: Solar wind, energetic particles, and dust Surface compositions across Pluto and Charon The geology of Pluto and Charon through the eyes of New Horizons |
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Mar 17 2016, 07:18 PM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1887 Joined: 20-November 04 From: Iowa Member No.: 110 |
Just took another look , they are all open access now.
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Jul 1 2016, 12:50 AM
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#11
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Member Group: Members Posts: 890 Joined: 18-November 08 Member No.: 4489 |
the small bodies node has some data up
From LORRI , fits with pds lbl's http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/ ------------ raw data http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/holdi....0/dataset.html Calibrated data http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/holdi....0/dataset.html |
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Jul 1 2016, 11:20 AM
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#12
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Member Group: Members Posts: 244 Joined: 2-March 15 Member No.: 7408 |
the small bodies node has some data up From LORRI , fits with pds lbl's http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/ ------------ raw data http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/holdi....0/dataset.html Calibrated data http://pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/holdi....0/dataset.html The *day* I finish my approach animation. Now I Edit: Nevermind; it looks like, for LORRI, it's all (or mostly) just the early "browse" frames, highly lossy-compressed. I get better quality from the JPEGs on the SOC site. Though, it might be worth it for me to take a look at the LBLs to see if they have accurate pointing/orientation data. |
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Aug 21 2016, 08:28 PM
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#13
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Member Group: Members Posts: 363 Joined: 13-April 06 From: Malta Member No.: 741 |
I am not sure if I should post this here but having seen the Pluto system up close we have come to know better how this system ticks. Analogies have been made with the Earth particularly in terms of Planet moon size comparison and the process of formation in terms of colliding protoplanets in the early history of the solar system. Is there any possibility the protoplanet that collided with earth which led to the formation of our moon was a KBO? Would that not explain the different make up of earth's atmosphere today and the abundant presence of liquid water on the surface in contrast to the other terrestrial planets?
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Aug 21 2016, 10:00 PM
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#14
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2346 Joined: 7-December 12 Member No.: 6780 |
The relative abundance of water on Earth compared to the whole mass of Earth is very small. Kind of a water protoplanet made of the absolut amount of water on Earth would have been far too small (by orders of magnitude) to split off Earth's moon from a proto-Earth.
But KBO impacts may well have contributed to the water on Earth, possibly during the LHB. Although I'm unsure, whether 4 billion years ago, the notion "KBO" did already make sense, since our solar system may have undergone significant changes since then. |
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Aug 21 2016, 10:38 PM
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#15
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Is there any possibility the protoplanet that collided with earth which led to the formation of our moon was a KBO? My impression from what I've read is that the collision was a relatively low velocity one, implying that the colliding object was in an orbit rather similar to the proto-earth, so not a KBO. I think there was a lot of water around in the inner solar system right from the beginning. It's had billions of years to get lost by photo-dissociation at the tops of atmospheres and by molecular sublimation from planetary surfaces exposed to near vacuum and sunlight, but it survives everywhere else: as ice just under the surface on Mars and Ceres, as a major component of the Venusian clouds, as ice again in cold traps on Mercury and the Moon - and there is probably even more water stored in pore spaces in rocks on all the terrestrial worlds. |
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