Related papers: Impactor Flux and Cratering on the Pluto-Charon Sy…

The New Horizons spacecraft has found evidence for geologic activity on the surface of Pluto, including extensional tectonic deformation of its water ice bedrock (see Moore et al., 2016). One mechanism that could drive extensional tectonic…

From recently-acquired, high-resolution images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft, we examine the patterns and spatial distributions of rayed craters on Dione. We identify 29 rayed craters with diameters larger than 2km on Dione's surface.…

The small satellites of the Pluto system (Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra) have very low surface escape velocities, and impacts should therefore eject a large amount of material from their surfaces. We show that most of this material then…

The transneptunian objects (TNOs) trapped in mean-motion resonances with Neptune were likely emplaced there during planet migration late in the giant-planet formation process. We perform detailed modelling of the resonant objects detected…

The Lunar CRater Observations and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission impacted a spent Centaur rocket stage into a permanently shadowed region near the lunar south pole. The Sheperding Spacecraft (SSC) separated \sim9 hours before impact and…

In this paper we investigate Charon's craters size distribution using a deep learning model. This is motivated by the recent results of Singer et al. (2019) who, using manual cataloging, found a change in the size distribution slope of…

Almost all meteorite impacts occur at oblique incidence angles, but the effect of impact angle on crater size is not well understood, especially for large craters. To improve oblique impact crater scaling, we present a suite of simulations…

This paper reports the discovery and orbital characterization of two extreme trans-Neptunian objects (ETNOs), 2016 QV$_{89}$ and 2016 QU$_{89}$, which have orbits that appear similar to that of a previously known object, 2013 UH$_{15}$. All…

The Pluto-Charon system is a binary system, characterised by its high mass ratio and its tidally locked synchronous orbit. Surrounding the central binary, four satellites - Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra - follow near-circular and near…

Recent radio surveys have revealed pulsars with dispersion and scattering delays induced by ionized gas that are larger than the rest of the observed pulsar population, in some cases with electron column densities (or dispersion measures;…

We present results from a multi-chord Pluto stellar occultation observed on 29 June 2015 from New Zealand and Australia. This occurred only two weeks before the NASA New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system and serves as a useful comparison…

Impact craters exist on solid surface planets, their satellites and many asteroids.The aim of this paper is to propose a theoretical expression for the product $\rho r^{3} v_{1}^{2}$,where the three symbols denote the mass density,radius…

Planetary impact events eject large volumes of surface material. Crater excavation processes are difficult to study, and in particular the details of individual ejecta fragments are not well understood. A related, enduring issue in…

Persephone is a NASA concept mission study that addresses key questions raised by New Horizons' encounters with Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs), with arguably the most important being "Does Pluto have a subsurface ocean?". More broadly,…

During planet formation, numerous small impacting bodies result in cratering impacts on large target bodies. A fraction of the target surface is eroded, while a fraction of the impactor material accretes onto the surface. These fractions…

The study of small ($<$300 m) near-Earth objects (NEOs) is important because they are more closely related than larger objects to the precursors of meteorites that fall on Earth. Collisions of these bodies with Earth are also more frequent.…

Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) contain the most primitive and thermally least-processed materials from the early accretional phase of the solar system. They allow us to study interrelations between various classes of small bodies, their…

The population of Earth-impacting meteoroids and its size-dependent orbital elements are key to understanding the origin of meteorites and informing on planetary defence efforts. Outstanding questions include the role of collisions in…

A giant impact is commonly thought to explain the dramatic contrast in elevation and crustal thickness between the two hemispheres of Mars known as the "Martian Dichotomy". Initially, this scenario referred to an impact in the northern…

Recently, Sheppard et al. (2016) presented the discovery of seven new trans-Neptunian objects with moderate eccentricities, perihelia beyond 40 AU, and semimajor axes beyond 50 AU. Like the few previously known objects on similar orbits,…