新视野号观测到的冥王星小卫星
地球与行星天体物理
2016-04-20 v1
摘要
新视野号任务提供了冥王星卫星 Styx、Nix、Kerberos 和 Hydra 的解析测量。这四颗都较小，Nix 和 Hydra 的等效球形直径约40 km，Styx 和 Kerberos 约10 km。它们也高度拉长，长轴与短轴比约2。四颗卫星都具有高反照率（约50-90%），表明其表面成分可能为水冰。Nix 和 Hydra 上的陨石坑密度意味着表面年龄 4 Ga。这些小卫星的自转远快于同步自转，自转轴聚类几乎正交于冥王星和冥卫一的共同极方向。这些结果加强了小卫星形成于产生冥王星-冥卫一双星碰撞之后的假说。
引用
@article{arxiv.1604.05366,
title = {The Small Satellites of Pluto as Observed by New Horizons},
author = {H. A. Weaver and M. W. Buie and B. J. Buratti and W. M. Grundy and T. R. Lauer and C. B. Olkin and A. H. Parker and S. B. Porter and M. R. Showalter and J. R. Spencer and S. A. Stern and A. J. Verbiscer and W. B. McKinnon and J. M. Moore and S. J. Robbins and P. Schenk and K. N. Singer and O. S. Barnouin and A. F. Cheng and C. M. Ernst and C. M. Lisse and D. E. Jennings and A. W. Lunsford and D. C. Reuter and D. P. Hamilton and D. E. Kaufmann and K. Ennico and L. A. Young and R. A. Beyer and R. P. Binzel and V. J. Bray and A. L. Chaikin and J. C. Cook and D. P. Cruikshank and C. M. Dalle Ore and A. M. Earle and G. R. Gladstone and C. J. A. Howett and I. R. Linscott and F. Nimmo and J. Wm. Parker and S. Philippe and S. Protopapa and H. J. Reitsema and B. Schmitt and T. Stryk and M. E. Summers and C. C. C. Tsang and H. H. B. Throop and O. L. White and A. M. Zangari},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1604.05366},
year = {2016}
}
备注
in Science 351, aae0030 (2016)