相关论文: The Small Satellites of Pluto as Observed by New H…

We present a new orbit and mass solution for the four small satellites of Pluto: Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. We have reanalyzed all available observations of the Pluto system obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) from 2005 to…

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…

During 2005-2012, images from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) revealed four moons orbiting Pluto-Charon (Weaver et al 2006, Showalter et al 2011, 2012). Although their orbits and geometric shapes are well-known, the 2$\sigma$ uncertainties in…

The orbits of Pluto's four small satellites (Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra) are nearly circular and coplanar with the orbit of the large satellite Charon, with orbital periods nearly in the ratios 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, and 6:1 with Charon's…

The formation of Pluto's small satellites - Styx, Nix, Keberos and Hydra - remains a mystery. Their orbits are nearly circular and are near mean-motion resonances and nearly coplanar with Charon's orbit. One scenario suggests that they all…

Four small moons (Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra) are at present known to orbit around the barycenter of Pluto and Charon, which are themselves considered a binary dwarf-planet due to their relatively high mass ratio. The central,…

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…

Context. The orbits of the four small moons in the Pluto-Charon system, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra, are circumbinary, as the former form a binary dwarf planet. Consequently, the orbit of each one of them is characterized by a number of…

Pluto and its five known satellites form a complex dynamic system. Here we explore where additional satellites could exist exterior to Charon (the innermost moon) but interior of Hydra (the outermost). We also provide dynamical constraints…

The Pluto system was recently explored by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, making closest approach on 14 July 2015. Pluto's surface displays diverse landforms, terrain ages, albedos, colors, and composition gradients. Evidence is found for a…

A four-body orbit solution for the Pluto system yields GM values of 870.3 +/- 3.7, 101.4 +/- 2.8, 0.039 +/- 0.034, and 0.021 +/- 0.042 km3 sec-2 for Pluto, Charon, Nix, and Hydra, respectively. Assuming a Charon-like density of 1.63 gm…

In anticipation of the July 2015 flyby of the Pluto system by NASA's New Horizons mission, we propose naming conventions and example names for surface features on Pluto and its satellites (Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, Styx) and names for…

The Pluto system provides a unique local laboratory for the study of binaries with multiple low mass companions. In this paper, we study the orbital stability of P4, the most recently discovered moon in the Pluto system. This newfound…

New Horizons mission observations show that the small satellites Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra, of the Pluto-Charon system, have not tidally spun-down to near synchronous spin states and have high obliquities with respect to their orbit…

We consider the formation of satellites around the Pluto-Charon binary. An early collision between the two partners likely produced the binary and a narrow ring of debris, out of which arose the moons Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra. How the…

We analyze a new set of 275 n-body calculations designed to place limits on the masses of the small circumbinary satellites in the Pluto-Charon system. Together with calculations reported in previous papers, we repeat that a robust upper…

Pluto's recently discovered minor moons, Nix and Hydra, have almost circular orbits, and are nearly coplanar with Charon, Pluto's major moon. This is surprising because tidal interactions with Pluto are too weak to damp their…

How did Pluto's recently discovered minor moons form? Ward and Canup propose an elegant solution in which Nix and Hydra formed in the collision that produced Charon, then were caught into corotation resonances with Charon, and finally were…

Using a large suite of n-body simulations, we explore the discovery space for new satellites in the Pluto-Charon system. For the adopted masses and orbits of the known satellites, there are few stable prograde or polar orbits with semimajor…

We discuss a new set of $\sim$ 500 numerical n-body calculations designed to constrain the masses and bulk densities of Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Comparisons of different techniques for deriving the semimajor axis and eccentricity of…