Premium
Constraints on impact rates in the Pluto‐Charon system and the population of the Kuiper Comet Belt
Author(s) -
Weissman Paul R.,
Dobrovolskis Anthony R.,
Stern S. Alan
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl016i011p01241
Subject(s) - pluto , physics , comet , eccentricity (behavior) , astronomy , astrobiology , population , neptune , solar system , orbit (dynamics) , astrophysics , planet , orbital eccentricity , demography , engineering , sociology , political science , law , aerospace engineering
Impact rates in the Pluto‐Charon system are dominated by comets from the proposed Kuiper Belt, 30 to 50 AU from the Sun. Such collisions excite the eccentricity of Charon‧s orbit, which then decays due to tidal dissipation. Charon‧s eccentricity approaches a quasi‐steady state, which can be used to constrain the total number and mass of comets in the Kuiper Belt. Unfortunately, the current upper limit on Charon‧s orbital eccentricity must be reduced by more than a factor of ten before useful constraints can be set.