The effect of Nix and Hydra on the putative Pluto–Charon dust cloud |
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| Authors: | Andrew Poppe Mihály Horányi |
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| Institution: | aLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, UCB 392, Boulder, CO 80303, USA;bDepartment of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA |
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| Abstract: | Impact-generated dust clouds around airless bodies have been observed or suggested to be present throughout the solar system, including around the Martian, Galilean and Saturnian satellites. Simulations have assessed Pluto and Charon as sources of a possible dust cloud or torus and found that such a cloud would be dominated by Charon-produced ejecta and would have an optical depth of τ≈10−11. These simulations were conducted before the discovery of two additional, small satellites of Pluto, Nix and Hydra. These small moons may yield impact-generated dust in excess of their larger counterparts due to their lower escape velocities, despite their smaller cross sections. In this paper, we extend a previous model of the Pluto–Charon dust cloud to include Nix and Hydra, both as sinks for Pluto- and Charon-generated dust and as sources of impact-generated dust. We find that Nix- and Hydra-generated dust grains outlive Pluto and Charon dust grains significantly and are the dominant contributors of dust in the Pluto–Charon system. Furthermore, we estimate the net geometric optical depth of grains between 0.1 and  to be on the order of 10−7. |
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| Keywords: | Pluto Charon Nix Hydra Dust clouds/rings |
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