What Is the Color of Pluto? - Universe Today
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Chemical Composition of Pluto's Aerosols Analogues
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 13, EPSC-DPS2019-941-1, 2019 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2019 c Author(s) 2019. CC Attribution 4.0 license. Chemical composition of Pluto’s aerosols analogues Lora Jovanovic (1), Thomas Gautier (1), Nathalie Carrasco (1), Véronique Vuitton (2), Cédric Wolters (2), François-Régis Orthous-Daunay (2), Ludovic Vettier (1), Laurène Flandinet (2) ([email protected]) (1) Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Guyancourt, France (2) Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), Grenoble, France Abstract Table 1: Types of Pluto’s aerosols analogues produced with the PAMPRE experiment. The discovery of haze in Pluto’s atmosphere on July 14th, 2015, has raised lots of questions. To help Corresponding understand the data provided by the New Horizons Composition of the gas mixture altitude on spacecraft, Pluto’s aerosols analogues were Pluto [2] synthetized and their chemical composition was 99% N2 : 1% CH4 : 500 ppm CO 400 km determined by high-resolution mass spectrometry 95% N2 : 5% CH4 : 500 ppm CO 600 km (Orbitrap technique). 2.2. High-resolution mass spectrometry 1. Introduction (HRMS) study On July 14th, 2015, when Pluto was flown by the New Horizons spacecraft, aerosols were detected in its We analyzed the soluble fraction of Pluto’s aerosols atmosphere, mainly composed of molecular nitrogen analogues, dissolved in a 50:50 (v/v)% methanol:acetonitrile mixture. The analytical N2, methane CH4, with around 500 ppm of carbon monoxide CO [1,2,3]. These aerosols aggregate into instrument used was the LTQ Orbitrap XL several thin haze layers that extend at more than (ThermoFisher Scientific). -
Motivation Sputnik Planitia Flexural Modeling Plans for GEOL
Motivation Sputnik Planitia Flexural modeling Sputnik Planitia Flexure model • Large teardrop-shaped basin The flexure of an elastic plate in two dimensions obeys Equation 1 located on Pluto at 20°N 180°E 푑4푤 퐷 + 푚 − 푐 푔푤 = 푉0 Equation 1. • Size: 1300 km by 900 km 푑푥4 4퐷 1/4 퐸∗ℎ3 • Depth: 3-4 km (basin) where 훼 = is the flexural parameter, 퐷 = is the flexural rigidity, is the 휌 −휌 12(1−푣2) 푚 • 푚 푐 Deposit of nitrogen ice density of the underlying layer of the ice shell, is the density of the ice shell. g is the gravity on • 푐 Water ice basement Pluto, E is the Young’s modulus of water ice, h is the elastic thickness, and 휈 is Poisson’s ratio 푑3푤 1 푑푤 For a single vertical load at 푥 = 0 , the boundary conditions are 퐷 = 푉 and = 0 Formation Hypotheses 푑푥3 2 0 푑푥 • An ancient impact basin created The deflection due to several line loads is found by superposition: 푉 훼3 푥−푥 푥−푥 푥−푥 by an impactor later filled with 푤 = σ 푖 sin 푖 + cos 푖 exp − 푖 Equation 2. 푖 8퐷 훼 훼 훼 N2 ice. The feature would have moved to the current location Where {푉푖} is the magnitude of the loads at position {푥푖} through polar wander. • Runaway deposition of N2 ice Inversion due to albedo feedback at the The load vector 퐕 that produces topography 퐰, is found by least squares optimization: ±30°. The depression is due to 퐕 = 퐌′퐌 + 퐂 −1 퐌′퐰 elastic flexure under the load of 풎 where M is the operator matrix that links a load at position 푥푗 to deflection at a point 푥푖 a thick N2 ice cap. -
Dwarf Planet Ceres
Dwarf Planet Ceres drishtiias.com/printpdf/dwarf-planet-ceres Why in News As per the data collected by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, dwarf planet Ceres reportedly has salty water underground. Dawn (2007-18) was a mission to the two most massive bodies in the main asteroid belt - Vesta and Ceres. Key Points 1/3 Latest Findings: The scientists have given Ceres the status of an “ocean world” as it has a big reservoir of salty water underneath its frigid surface. This has led to an increased interest of scientists that the dwarf planet was maybe habitable or has the potential to be. Ocean Worlds is a term for ‘Water in the Solar System and Beyond’. The salty water originated in a brine reservoir spread hundreds of miles and about 40 km beneath the surface of the Ceres. Further, there is an evidence that Ceres remains geologically active with cryovolcanism - volcanoes oozing icy material. Instead of molten rock, cryovolcanoes or salty-mud volcanoes release frigid, salty water sometimes mixed with mud. Subsurface Oceans on other Celestial Bodies: Jupiter’s moon Europa, Saturn’s moon Enceladus, Neptune’s moon Triton, and the dwarf planet Pluto. This provides scientists a means to understand the history of the solar system. Ceres: It is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It was the first member of the asteroid belt to be discovered when Giuseppe Piazzi spotted it in 1801. It is the only dwarf planet located in the inner solar system (includes planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars). Scientists classified it as a dwarf planet in 2006. -
+ New Horizons
Media Contacts NASA Headquarters Policy/Program Management Dwayne Brown New Horizons Nuclear Safety (202) 358-1726 [email protected] The Johns Hopkins University Mission Management Applied Physics Laboratory Spacecraft Operations Michael Buckley (240) 228-7536 or (443) 778-7536 [email protected] Southwest Research Institute Principal Investigator Institution Maria Martinez (210) 522-3305 [email protected] NASA Kennedy Space Center Launch Operations George Diller (321) 867-2468 [email protected] Lockheed Martin Space Systems Launch Vehicle Julie Andrews (321) 853-1567 [email protected] International Launch Services Launch Vehicle Fran Slimmer (571) 633-7462 [email protected] NEW HORIZONS Table of Contents Media Services Information ................................................................................................ 2 Quick Facts .............................................................................................................................. 3 Pluto at a Glance ...................................................................................................................... 5 Why Pluto and the Kuiper Belt? The Science of New Horizons ............................... 7 NASA’s New Frontiers Program ........................................................................................14 The Spacecraft ........................................................................................................................15 Science Payload ...............................................................................................................16 -
1 the Atmosphere of Pluto As Observed by New Horizons G
The Atmosphere of Pluto as Observed by New Horizons G. Randall Gladstone,1,2* S. Alan Stern,3 Kimberly Ennico,4 Catherine B. Olkin,3 Harold A. Weaver,5 Leslie A. Young,3 Michael E. Summers,6 Darrell F. Strobel,7 David P. Hinson,8 Joshua A. Kammer,3 Alex H. Parker,3 Andrew J. Steffl,3 Ivan R. Linscott,9 Joel Wm. Parker,3 Andrew F. Cheng,5 David C. Slater,1† Maarten H. Versteeg,1 Thomas K. Greathouse,1 Kurt D. Retherford,1,2 Henry Throop,7 Nathaniel J. Cunningham,10 William W. Woods,9 Kelsi N. Singer,3 Constantine C. C. Tsang,3 Rebecca Schindhelm,3 Carey M. Lisse,5 Michael L. Wong,11 Yuk L. Yung,11 Xun Zhu,5 Werner Curdt,12 Panayotis Lavvas,13 Eliot F. Young,3 G. Leonard Tyler,9 and the New Horizons Science Team 1Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX 78238, USA 2University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA 3Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA 4National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA 5The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA 6George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA 7The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA 8Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA 9Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA 10Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE 68504 11California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA 12Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany 13Groupe de Spectroscopie Moléculaire et Atmosphérique, Université Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51687 Reims, France *To whom correspondence should be addressed. -
The Solar System Cause Impact Craters
ASTRONOMY 161 Introduction to Solar System Astronomy Class 12 Solar System Survey Monday, February 5 Key Concepts (1) The terrestrial planets are made primarily of rock and metal. (2) The Jovian planets are made primarily of hydrogen and helium. (3) Moons (a.k.a. satellites) orbit the planets; some moons are large. (4) Asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and Kuiper Belt objects orbit the Sun. (5) Collision between objects in the Solar System cause impact craters. Family portrait of the Solar System: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, (Eris, Ceres, Pluto): My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine (Extra Cheese Pizzas). The Solar System: List of Ingredients Ingredient Percent of total mass Sun 99.8% Jupiter 0.1% other planets 0.05% everything else 0.05% The Sun dominates the Solar System Jupiter dominates the planets Object Mass Object Mass 1) Sun 330,000 2) Jupiter 320 10) Ganymede 0.025 3) Saturn 95 11) Titan 0.023 4) Neptune 17 12) Callisto 0.018 5) Uranus 15 13) Io 0.015 6) Earth 1.0 14) Moon 0.012 7) Venus 0.82 15) Europa 0.008 8) Mars 0.11 16) Triton 0.004 9) Mercury 0.055 17) Pluto 0.002 A few words about the Sun. The Sun is a large sphere of gas (mostly H, He – hydrogen and helium). The Sun shines because it is hot (T = 5,800 K). The Sun remains hot because it is powered by fusion of hydrogen to helium (H-bomb). (1) The terrestrial planets are made primarily of rock and metal. -
Jjmonl 1710.Pmd
alactic Observer John J. McCarthy Observatory G Volume 10, No. 10 October 2017 The Last Waltz Cassini’s final mission and dance of death with Saturn more on page 4 and 20 The John J. McCarthy Observatory Galactic Observer New Milford High School Editorial Committee 388 Danbury Road Managing Editor New Milford, CT 06776 Bill Cloutier Phone/Voice: (860) 210-4117 Production & Design Phone/Fax: (860) 354-1595 www.mccarthyobservatory.org Allan Ostergren Website Development JJMO Staff Marc Polansky Technical Support It is through their efforts that the McCarthy Observatory Bob Lambert has established itself as a significant educational and recreational resource within the western Connecticut Dr. Parker Moreland community. Steve Barone Jim Johnstone Colin Campbell Carly KleinStern Dennis Cartolano Bob Lambert Route Mike Chiarella Roger Moore Jeff Chodak Parker Moreland, PhD Bill Cloutier Allan Ostergren Doug Delisle Marc Polansky Cecilia Detrich Joe Privitera Dirk Feather Monty Robson Randy Fender Don Ross Louise Gagnon Gene Schilling John Gebauer Katie Shusdock Elaine Green Paul Woodell Tina Hartzell Amy Ziffer In This Issue INTERNATIONAL OBSERVE THE MOON NIGHT ...................... 4 SOLAR ACTIVITY ........................................................... 19 MONTE APENNINES AND APOLLO 15 .................................. 5 COMMONLY USED TERMS ............................................... 19 FAREWELL TO RING WORLD ............................................ 5 FRONT PAGE ............................................................... -
International Astronomical Union Union Astronomique Internationale
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION UNION ASTRONOMIQUE INTERNATIONALE ************ IAU0806: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ************ http://www.iau.org/public_press/news/release/iau0806/ Fourth dwarf planet named Makemake 17 July 2008, Paris: The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has given the name Makemake to the newest member of the family of dwarf planets — the object formerly known as 2005 FY9 —after the Polynesian creator of humanity and the god of fertility. Members of the International Astronomical Union’s Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN) and the IAU Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) have decided to name the newest member of the plutoid family Makemake, and have classified it as the fourth dwarf planet in our Solar System and the third plutoid. Makemake (pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh) is one of the largest objects known in the outer Solar System and is just slightly smaller and dimmer than Pluto, its fellow plutoid. The dwarf planet is reddish in colour and astronomers believe the surface is covered by a layer of frozen methane. Like other plutoids, Makemake is located in a region beyond Neptune that is populated with small Solar System bodies (often referred to as the transneptunian region). The object was discovered in 2005 by a team from the California Institute of Technology led by Mike Brown and was previously known as 2005 FY9 (or unofficially “Easterbunny”). It has the IAU Minor Planet Center designation (136472). Once the orbit of a small Solar System body or candidate dwarf planet is well determined, its provisional designation (2005 FY9 in the case of Makemake) is superseded by its permanent numerical designation (136472) in the case of Makemake. -
Pluto and Charon
National Aeronautics and Space Administration 0 300,000,000 900,000,000 1,500,000,000 2,100,000,000 2,700,000,000 3,300,000,000 3,900,000,000 4,500,000,000 5,100,000,000 5,700,000,000 kilometers Pluto and Charon www.nasa.gov Pluto is classified as a dwarf planet and is also a member of a Charon’s orbit around Pluto takes 6.4 Earth days, and one Pluto SIGNIFICANT DATES group of objects that orbit in a disc-like zone beyond the orbit of rotation (a Pluto day) takes 6.4 Earth days. Charon neither rises 1930 — Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto. Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. This distant realm is populated nor sets but “hovers” over the same spot on Pluto’s surface, 1977–1999 — Pluto’s lopsided orbit brings it slightly closer to with thousands of miniature icy worlds, which formed early in the and the same side of Charon always faces Pluto — this is called the Sun than Neptune. It will be at least 230 years before Pluto history of the solar system. These icy, rocky bodies are called tidal locking. Compared with most of the planets and moons, the moves inward of Neptune’s orbit for 20 years. Kuiper Belt objects or transneptunian objects. Pluto–Charon system is tipped on its side, like Uranus. Pluto’s 1978 — American astronomers James Christy and Robert Har- rotation is retrograde: it rotates “backwards,” from east to west Pluto’s 248-year-long elliptical orbit can take it as far as 49.3 as- rington discover Pluto’s unusually large moon, Charon. -
Results from the New Horizons Encounter with Pluto
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 11, EPSC2017-140, 2017 European Planetary Science Congress 2017 EEuropeaPn PlanetarSy Science CCongress c Author(s) 2017 Results from the New Horizons encounter with Pluto C. B. Olkin (1), S. A. Stern (1), J. R. Spencer (1), H. A. Weaver (2), L. A. Young (1), K. Ennico (3) and the New Horizons Team (1) Southwest Research Institute, Colorado, USA, (2) Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Maryland, USA (3) NASA Ames Research Center, California, USA ([email protected]) Abstract Hydra) and the various processes that would darken those surfaces over time [5]. In July 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft flew through the Pluto system providing high spatial resolution panchromatic and color visible light imaging, near-infrared composition mapping spectroscopy, UV airglow measurements, UV solar and radio uplink occultations for atmospheric sounding, and in situ plasma and dust measurements that have transformed our understanding of Pluto and its moons [1]. Results from the science investigations focusing on geology, surface composition and atmospheric studies of Pluto and its largest satellite Charon will be presented. We also describe the New Horizons extended mission. 1. Geology and Size Highlights from the geology investigation of Pluto Figure 1: The glacial ices of Sputnik Planitia. The include the discovery of a unexpected diversity of cellular pattern is a surface expression of mobile lid geomorpholgies across the surface, the discovery of a convection. The boundaries of the cells are troughs. deep basin (informally known as Sputnik Planitia) Despite it’s size of ~900,000 km2, there are no containing glacial ices undergoing mobile-lid identified craters across Sputnik Planitia. -
Solar System Planet and Dwarf Planet Fact Sheet
Solar System Planet and Dwarf Planet Fact Sheet The planets and dwarf planets are listed in their order from the Sun. Mercury The smallest planet in the Solar System. The closest planet to the Sun. Revolves the fastest around the Sun. It is 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit hotter on its daytime side than on its night time side. Venus The hottest planet. Average temperature: 864 F. Hotter than your oven at home. It is covered in clouds of sulfuric acid. It rains sulfuric acid on Venus which comes down as virga and does not reach the surface of the planet. Its atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). It has thousands of volcanoes. Most are dormant. But some might be active. Scientists are not sure. It rotates around its axis slower than it revolves around the Sun. That means that its day is longer than its year! This rotation is the slowest in the Solar System. Earth Lots of water! Mountains! Active volcanoes! Hurricanes! Earthquakes! Life! Us! Mars It is sometimes called the "red planet" because it is covered in iron oxide -- a substance that is the same as rust on our planet. It has the highest volcano -- Olympus Mons -- in the Solar System. It is not an active volcano. It has a canyon -- Valles Marineris -- that is as wide as the United States. It once had rivers, lakes and oceans of water. Scientists are trying to find out what happened to all this water and if there ever was (or still is!) life on Mars. It sometimes has dust storms that cover the entire planet. -
1 on the Origin of the Pluto System Robin M. Canup Southwest Research Institute Kaitlin M. Kratter University of Arizona Marc Ne
On the Origin of the Pluto System Robin M. Canup Southwest Research Institute Kaitlin M. Kratter University of Arizona Marc Neveu NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / University of Maryland The goal of this chapter is to review hypotheses for the origin of the Pluto system in light of observational constraints that have been considerably refined over the 85-year interval between the discovery of Pluto and its exploration by spacecraft. We focus on the giant impact hypothesis currently understood as the likeliest origin for the Pluto-Charon binary, and devote particular attention to new models of planet formation and migration in the outer Solar System. We discuss the origins conundrum posed by the system’s four small moons. We also elaborate on implications of these scenarios for the dynamical environment of the early transneptunian disk, the likelihood of finding a Pluto collisional family, and the origin of other binary systems in the Kuiper belt. Finally, we highlight outstanding open issues regarding the origin of the Pluto system and suggest areas of future progress. 1. INTRODUCTION For six decades following its discovery, Pluto was the only known Sun-orbiting world in the dynamical vicinity of Neptune. An early origin concept postulated that Neptune originally had two large moons – Pluto and Neptune’s current moon, Triton – and that a dynamical event had both reversed the sense of Triton’s orbit relative to Neptune’s rotation and ejected Pluto onto its current heliocentric orbit (Lyttleton, 1936). This scenario remained in contention following the discovery of Charon, as it was then established that Pluto’s mass was similar to that of a large giant planet moon (Christy and Harrington, 1978).