Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006natur.439...52s&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 439, Issue 7072, pp. 52-54 (2006).
Physics
28
Scientific paper
Pluto and its satellite, Charon (discovered in 1978; ref. 1), appear to form a double planet, rather than a hierarchical planet/satellite couple. Charon is about half Pluto's size and about one-eighth its mass. The precise radii of Pluto and Charon have remained uncertain, leading to large uncertainties on their densities. Although stellar occultations by Charon are in principle a powerful way of measuring its size, they are rare, as the satellite subtends less than 0.3 microradians (0.06 arcsec) on the sky. One occultation (in 1980) yielded a lower limit of 600km for the satellite's radius, which was later refined to 601.5km (ref. 4). Here we report observations from a multi-station stellar occultation by Charon, which we use to derive a radius, RC = 603.6 +/- 1.4km (1σ), and a density of ρ = 1.71 +/- 0.08gcm-3. This occultation also provides upper limits of 110 and 15 (3σ) nanobar for an atmosphere around Charon, assuming respectively a pure nitrogen or pure methane atmosphere.
Ageorges Nancy
Alvarez-Candal Alvaro
Andrei Alexander H.
Assafin Marcelo
Behrend Raoul
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