Impactor Flux on the Pluto-Charon System

On The Origin of Pluto , Charon , and the Pluto

Being small, binary, and in a highly unusual orbit, Pluto was long viewed as an enigma in the outer Solar System. Here we review the historical development of ideas concerning Pluto's origin and the origin of the Pluto-Charon Binary. We critically examine these theories in light of both recent advances about Pluto, and with regard to Pluto's broader context in the outer Solar System. Although P...

On an impact origin of Pluto-Charon

Walnut Street, Suite 400, Boulder, CO 80302 [email protected], Earth Sciences Department, University of California; Santa Cruz, CA 95064. Introduction: The Pluto-Charon system shares key commonalities with the Earth-Moon system, e.g., its large satellite-to-planet mass ratio, high system angular momentum and a potentially reduced satellite density relative to that of the planet. In both ca...

Properties of the Pluto-Charon binary

The surface compositions of Pluto and Charon

The surface of Pluto as it is understood on the eve of the encounter of the New Horizons spacecraft (mid-2015) consists of a spatially heterogeneous mix of solid N2, CH4, CO, C2H6, and an additional component that imparts color, and may not be an ice. The known molecular ices are detected by near-infrared spectroscopy. The N2 ice occurs in the hexagonal crystalline b-phase, stable at T > 35.6 K...

A giant impact origin of Pluto-Charon.

Pluto and its moon, Charon, are the most prominent members of the Kuiper belt, and their existence holds clues to outer solar system formation processes. Here, hydrodynamic simulations are used to demonstrate that the formation of Pluto-Charon by means of a large collision is quite plausible. I show that such an impact probably produced an intact Charon, although it is possible that a disk of m...