Determination of the Mass Densities of Pluto and Charon

Details Determination of the Mass Densities of Pluto and Charon Determination of the Mass Densities of Pluto and Charon

Jul 1991

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1991hst..prop.2215n&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #2215

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Hst Proposal Id #2215

Scientific paper

WE PROPOSE TO ACQUIRE SEVEN WF CCD OBSERVATIONS OF PLUTO, CHARON, AND A SINGLE NEARBY STAR FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEASURING THE STAR-RELATIVE PLUTO "WOBBLE" INDUCED BY CHARON'S MASS. THIS WILL DETERMINE THE CHARON/PLUTO MASS RATIO TO ABOUT 19% AND, WHEN COMBINED WITH A MASS-SUM SOLUTION FROM KEPLER'S 3RD LAW, WILL DETERMINE THE DENSITIES OF PLUTO AND CHARON TO ABOUT 4% AND 16%, RESPECTIVELY. THESE DENSITIES ARE PRESENTLY POORLY KNOWN, IMPROVED VALUES WILL PROVIDE CRUCIAL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR MODELS OF PLUTO AND CHARON'S INTERIOR COMPOSITION, ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS, AND EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. THE MASS SOLUTIONS REQUIRE ACCURATE ASTROMETRIC MEASUREMENTS OF THE SEPARATE IMAGES OF PLUTO AND CHARON, WHICH CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED WITH HST'S ANGULAR RESOLUTION AND FREEDOM FROM ATMOSPHERIC DISTORTION. IF AN ACCURATE HST/WF SCALE-VALUE CAN BE OBTAINED INDEPENDENTLY OF THE PLUTO SYSTEM MEASUREMENTS, IT SHOULD BE POSSIBLE TO IMPROVE THE CHARON DENSITY SOLUTION ACCURACY BY ABOUT A FACTOR OF TWO.

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