SIMBAD references

2019AJ....157...79K - Astron. J., 157, 79-79 (2019/February-0)

A Pluto-Charon sonata: the dynamical architecture of the circumbinary satellite system.

KENYON S.J. and BROMLEY B.C.

Abstract (from CDS):

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 axes a≲1.1aH, where aH is the semimajor axis of the outermost moon Hydra. Small moons with radii r <= 2 km and a <= 1.1 aH are ejected on timescales ranging from several years to more than 100 Myr. Orbits with a >= 1.1 aH are stable on timescales exceeding 150-300 Myr. Near-infrared (IR) and mid-IR imaging with several instruments on James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based occultation campaigns with 2-3 m class telescopes can detect 1-2 km satellites outside the orbit of Hydra. Searches for these moons enable new constraints on the masses of the known satellites and on theories for circumbinary satellite formation.

Abstract Copyright: © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Journal keyword(s): planets and satellites: dynamical evolution and stability - planets and satellites: individual Pluto

Simbad objects: 1

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