The Small Satellites of Pluto as Observed by New Horizons

Abstract

The New Horizons mission has provided resolved measurements of Pluto's moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. All four are small, with equivalent spherical diameters of $\approx$40 km for Nix and Hydra and ~10 km for Styx and Kerberos. They are also highly elongated, with maximum to minimum axis ratios of $\approx$2. All four moons have high albedos ( $\approx$50-90 %) suggestive of a water-ice surface composition. Crater densities on Nix and Hydra imply surface ages $\gtrsim$ 4 Ga. The small moons rotate much faster than synchronous, with rotational poles clustered nearly orthogonal to the common pole directions of Pluto and Charon. These results reinforce the hypothesis that the small moons formed in the aftermath of a collision that produced the Pluto-Charon binary.

arXiv commentin Science 351, aae0030 (2016)

References in corpus (15)

• The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons
• Surface Compositions Across Pluto and Charon
• The Geology of Pluto and Charon Through the Eyes of New Horizons
• "TNOs are Cool": A survey of the trans-Neptunian region X. Analysis of classical Kuiper belt objects from Herschel and Spitzer observations
• Ralph: A Visible/Infrared Imager for the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper Belt Mission
• Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager on New Horizons
• The Discovery of Two New Satellites of Pluto
• Combining Undersampled Dithered Images
• "TNOs are Cool": A survey of the trans-Neptunian region VI. Herschel/PACS observations and thermal modeling of 19 classical Kuiper belt objects
• Near-Infrared Variability in the 2MASS Calibration Fields: A Search for Planetary Transit Candidates
• Circumbinary Chaos: Using Pluto's Newest Moon to Constrain the Masses of Nix & Hydra
• The Formation of Pluto's Low Mass Satellites
• Volatile Loss and Classification of Kuiper Belt Objects
• Ejecta Exchange, Color Evolution in the Pluto System, and Implications for KBOs and Asteroids with Satellites
• Ejecta Transfer in the Pluto System

Cited by in corpus (40)

• Surface Compositions Across Pluto and Charon
• "TNOs are Cool": A survey of the trans-Neptunian region X. Analysis of classical Kuiper belt objects from Herschel and Spitzer observations
• The Pluto System After New Horizons
• Formation of Charon's Red Poles From Seasonally Cold-Trapped Volatiles
• On the Origin and Thermal Stability of Arrokoths and Plutos Ices
• Discovery of a Makemakean Moon
• A re-assessment of the Kuiper belt size distribution for sub-kilometer objects, revealing collisional equilibrium at small sizes
• Medium-sized satellites of large Kuiper belt objects
• In-Flight Performance and Calibration of the LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) for the New Horizons Mission
• Obliquity evolution of the minor satellites of Pluto and Charon
• Inflight Radiometric Calibration of New Horizons' Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC)
• The Short Rotation Period of Hi'iaka, Haumea's Largest Satellite
• Tidal Dissipation in Dual-Body, Highly Eccentric, and Non-synchronously Rotating Systems: Applications to Pluto-Charon and the Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1e
• SKYSURF: Constraints on Zodiacal Light and Extragalactic Background Light through Panchromatic HST All-Sky Surface-Brightness Measurements: II. First Limits on Diffuse Light at 1.25, 1.4, and 1.6 microns
• Photometry of Kuiper Belt Object (486958) Arrokoth from New Horizons LORRI
• Tidal spin down rates of homogeneous triaxial viscoelastic bodies
• The New Horizons and Hubble Space Telescope Search For Rings, Dust, and Debris in the Pluto-Charon System
• Great Expectations: Plans and Predictions for New Horizons Encounter with Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 ('Ultima Thule')
• Evidence for Possible Clouds in Pluto's Present Day Atmosphere
• A Pluto-Charon Sonata: The Dynamical Architecture of the Circumbinary Satellite System
• Cryogenic-specific reddish coloration by cryoplasma: New explanation to color diversity of outer solar system objects
• A Pluto--Charon Sonata: Dynamical Limits on the Masses of the Small Satellites
• Tilting Styx and Nix but not Uranus with a Spin-Precession-Mean-motion resonance
• A Pluto-Charon Concerto: An Impact on Charon as the Origin of the Small Satellites
• Pluto near the edge of chaos
• Past and present dynamics of the circumbinary moons in the Pluto-Charon system
• On the Estimation of Circumbinary Orbital Properties
• Impact Craters on Pluto and Charon and Terrain Age Estimates
• Photometry of the Uranian Satellites with Keck and the Search for Mab
• A Pluto--Charon Concerto II. Formation of a Circumbinary Disk of Debris After the Giant Impact
• A Pluto-Charon Sonata III. Growth of Charon from a Circum-Pluto Ring of Debris
• On the Origin of the Pluto System
• Chaotic dynamics in the planar gravitational many-body problem with rigid body rotations
• A Deep Search for Additional Satellites around the Dwarf Planet Haumea
• Orbit determination of the moons of the Pluto-Charon system
• Pluto Geologic Map: Use of Crater Data to Understand Age Relationships
• Trans-Neptunian Space and the Post-Pluto Paradigm
• Pluto Follow On Missions: Background, Rationale, and New Mission Recommendations
• A Pluto--Charon Sonata IV. Improved Constraints on the Dynamical Behavior and Masses of the Small Satellites
• The Onset of Chaos in Permanently Deformed Binaries from Spin-Orbit and Spin-Spin Coupling