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Title: The formation of Pluto's low-mass satellites

Abstract

Motivated by the New Horizons mission, we consider how Pluto's small satellites—currently Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra—grow in debris from the giant impact that forms the Pluto-Charon binary. After the impact, Pluto and Charon accrete some of the debris and eject the rest from the binary orbit. During the ejection, high-velocity collisions among debris particles produce a collisional cascade, leading to the ejection of some debris from the system and enabling the remaining debris particles to find stable orbits around the binary. Our numerical simulations of coagulation and migration show that collisional evolution within a ring or a disk of debris leads to a few small satellites orbiting Pluto-Charon. These simulations are the first to demonstrate migration-induced mergers within a particle disk. The final satellite masses correlate with the initial disk mass. More massive disks tend to produce fewer satellites. For the current properties of the satellites, our results strongly favor initial debris masses of 3-10 × 10{sup 19} g and current satellite albedos A ≈ 0.4-1. We also predict an ensemble of smaller satellites, R ≲ 1-3 km, and very small particles, R ≈ 1-100 cm and optical depth τ ≲ 10{sup –10}. These objects should have semimajor axesmore » outside the current orbit of Hydra.« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22340051
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 147; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1538-3881
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ALBEDO; COLLISIONS; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; EVOLUTION; MASS; MIGRATION; PLUTO PLANET; RINGS; SATELLITES; TRAJECTORIES; VELOCITY

Citation Formats

Kenyon, Scott J., and Bromley, Benjamin C., E-mail: skenyon@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: bromley@physics.utah.edu. The formation of Pluto's low-mass satellites. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/147/1/8.
Kenyon, Scott J., & Bromley, Benjamin C., E-mail: skenyon@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: bromley@physics.utah.edu. The formation of Pluto's low-mass satellites. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/147/1/8
Kenyon, Scott J., and Bromley, Benjamin C., E-mail: skenyon@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: bromley@physics.utah.edu. 2014. "The formation of Pluto's low-mass satellites". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/147/1/8.
@article{osti_22340051,
title = {The formation of Pluto's low-mass satellites},
author = {Kenyon, Scott J. and Bromley, Benjamin C., E-mail: skenyon@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: bromley@physics.utah.edu},
abstractNote = {Motivated by the New Horizons mission, we consider how Pluto's small satellites—currently Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra—grow in debris from the giant impact that forms the Pluto-Charon binary. After the impact, Pluto and Charon accrete some of the debris and eject the rest from the binary orbit. During the ejection, high-velocity collisions among debris particles produce a collisional cascade, leading to the ejection of some debris from the system and enabling the remaining debris particles to find stable orbits around the binary. Our numerical simulations of coagulation and migration show that collisional evolution within a ring or a disk of debris leads to a few small satellites orbiting Pluto-Charon. These simulations are the first to demonstrate migration-induced mergers within a particle disk. The final satellite masses correlate with the initial disk mass. More massive disks tend to produce fewer satellites. For the current properties of the satellites, our results strongly favor initial debris masses of 3-10 × 10{sup 19} g and current satellite albedos A ≈ 0.4-1. We also predict an ensemble of smaller satellites, R ≲ 1-3 km, and very small particles, R ≈ 1-100 cm and optical depth τ ≲ 10{sup –10}. These objects should have semimajor axes outside the current orbit of Hydra.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-6256/147/1/8},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22340051}, journal = {Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)},
issn = {1538-3881},
number = 1,
volume = 147,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014},
month = {Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014}
}