The satellite of Pluto

Christy, J. W.; Harrington, R. S.

doi:10.1086/112284

Cited by 142 publications

(68 citation statements)

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“…The discovery of Pluto's moon Charon (Christy & Harrington 1978) was, in retrospect, the first discovery of what we now know to be a substantial population of trans-Neptunian binaries (TNBs). Roughly a decade after the discovery of the Kuiper Belt, Veillet et al (2002) found the next binary, a companion to 1998 WW 31 , among the now-expanded population of transNeptunian objects (TNOs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Six Trans-Neptunian Binaries with NICMOS: A High Fraction of Binaries in the Cold Classical Disk

Stephens

Noll

2006

Astron J

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We have analyzed a homogeneous set of observations of 81 trans-Neptunian objects obtained with NIC2 on the Hubble Space Telescope with the goal of identifying partially resolved binaries. Using PSF fitting we have identified six likely binaries in addition to the three new binaries already found in this data set. We find that 11 þ5 À2 % of transNeptunian objects are binaries at the separation and brightness limits of NIC2. The identification of these new binaries significantly increases the known lower limit to the binary fraction among trans-Neptunian objects. The origin of such a high fraction of binaries remains to be determined. Most interestingly, detectable binaries appear to be about 4 times more common among the cold classical disk than in the dynamically excited populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Six Trans-Neptunian Binaries with NICMOS: A High Fraction of Binaries in the Cold Classical Disk

Stephens

Noll

2006

Astron J

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“…The first transneptunian binary (TNB) was identified in 1978 with the discovery of Charon (Christy and Harrington 1978), coincidentally contemporaneous with the discovery of the nearhomonymously-named Chiron. The subsequent discovery of a large population of TNOs and the more recent discovery of numerous bound systems profoundly changes the context in which we view binaries (see review by Noll (2006) for a recent summary).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of a binary Centaur

Noll

Levison

Grundy

et al. 2006

Icarus

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“…The dwarf planet Pluto is surrounded by a large satellite about half its size, Charon, discovered from the ground in 1978 (Christy & Harrington 1978). Two smaller satellites, Nix and Hydra, were discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2005 Buie et al 2006), with diameters roughly estimated to be 100 km or less (Tholen et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An exploration of Pluto’s environment through stellar occultations

Boissel

Sicardy

Roques

et al. 2014

A&A

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Context. Pluto has five known satellites with diameters ranging from ∼1200 km down to ∼40 km, a possible outcome of a collisional origin. Smaller objects probably exist and may maintain tenuous rings, thus representing hazards during the New Horizons flyby of July 2015. Aims. The goal is to provide an upper limit for the numbers of unseen small bodies and/or equivalent widths of putative Pluto rings. Methods. We use a Pluto stellar appulse on April 10, 2006, and a stellar occultation by the dwarf planet on June 14, 2007, to scan Pluto's surroundings. Results. Our best data set places a 3σ upper limit of 0.3 km for the radius of isolated moonlets that we can detect. In the absence of detection, we derive an upper limit of 15 000 for the number of such bodies at distances smaller than ∼70 000 km from Pluto's system barycenter. We place a 3σ upper limit of typically 30−100 m for the equivalent width of ring material at barycentric distances ranging from 13 000 to 70 000 km. This limit applies for narrow rings only, i.e. less than about 10 km in width.

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The satellite of Pluto

Cited by 142 publications

References 0 publications

Detection of Six Trans-Neptunian Binaries with NICMOS: A High Fraction of Binaries in the Cold Classical Disk

Detection of Six Trans-Neptunian Binaries with NICMOS: A High Fraction of Binaries in the Cold Classical Disk

Discovery of a binary Centaur

An exploration of Pluto’s environment through stellar occultations

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