Measuring N_2 Ice on Charon

Details Measuring N_2 Ice on Charon Measuring N_2 Ice on Charon

Feb 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008noao.prop..337c&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2008A-0337

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Scientific paper

New observations of Charon suggest N_2 is present on the surface in the (alpha) phase. This phase implies that the ice temperature is less than 35.6 K, and thus can only be found in bright (albedo > 0.85) regions and/or where the maximum angle of the sun is ≲15°. Pure N_2 ice on a body the size of Charon (r~600 km) should have been lost over the age of the solar system (Brown & Calvin, 2000; Schaller & Brown, 2007), but new laboratory data suggest the rate of vaporization decreases in the presence of H_2O, making the retention of N_2 on Charon plausible. We propose to (i) obtain a second, independent detection of N_2 on Charon at higher SNR, spectral resolution and spectral sampling than its original detection and if present (ii) measure its N_2/H_2O ratio for comparison to other solar system bodies to infer if the source of N_2 is from Pluto or if it is natural to Charon.

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