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Chapter 14: Problem 46

Would you expect the surfaces of Pluto and Charon to be heavily cratered? Explain why or why not.

Short Answer

Expert verified
Yes, because Pluto and Charon are located in the Kuiper Belt, a region with numerous small icy bodies, which increases the likelihood of impacts. Also, being old celestial bodies, they have had longer exposure to potential impacts, hence they are expected to be heavily cratered.

Step by step solution

01

Identifying Crater Causes

Understand that craters are usually caused by impacts from meteorites and other celestial residue. In areas with high frequency of these occurrences, the number of craters tends to be higher.
02

Consideration of Location

Consider the location of both Pluto and Charon. They're in the Kuiper Belt, a region of the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune, which is populated by many small icy bodies. Therefore, the chance of impacts is quite significant.
03

Relating Craters to Surface Age

Remember that the number of craters can also indicate the age of the surface. A surface with many craters is typically relatively old because it has been exposed to potential impacts for a longer time. Given that Pluto and Charon are quite old celestial bodies, the expectation would lean towards them having heavily cratered surfaces.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Use the Starry Night Enthusiast \({ }^{\text {TM }}\) program to examine the satellites of Uranus. (a) Select Solar System \(>\) Uranus from the Favourites menu. Remove the image of the astronaut's spacesuit by clicking on View \(>\) Feet in the menu and remove the background stars by selecting View \(>\) Stars \(>\) Stars from the menu. Use the Elevation buttons in the Viewing Location section of the toolbar to change the distance from the planet to about \(0.004\) AU. You should now be able to see at least five satellites of the planet Uranus. Which satellites are these? Select Label > Planets-Moons from the menu to confirm your identification of these satellites. (b) You can rotate the image of the planet and its moons by holding down the Shift key while clicking the mouse button and moving the mouse. Use this technique to rotate Uranus until you are looking at the plane of the satellites' orbits edge-on. Do all of the satellites appear to lie in the same plane? (To display the orbits of each of the moons, open the Find pane, expand the layer for Uranus, and click in the right-hand box next to each moon.) How do you imagine that this plane relates to the plane of Uranus's equator? Why do you suspect that this is so?

How does the energy source for Uranus's atmospheric motions differ from those from Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune?

. If Triton had been formed along with Neptune rather than having been captured, would you expect it to be in a prograde or retrograde orbit? Would you expect the satellite to show signs of tectonic activity? Explain your answers.

Use the Stary Night Enthusiast \({ }^{\mathrm{TM}}\) program to observe Pluto and Charon. First select Options \(>\) Viewing Location from the menu. At the top of the Viewing Location dialog box, select position hovering over and Pluto in the drop boxes. Then click on the center of the map of Pluto that appears in the dialog window and click the Set Location button. Use the elevation buttons in the toolbar to increase the distance from the surface of Pluto to about \(35,000 \mathrm{~km}\). Use the Location scroller (hold down the Shift key while holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse, to rotate the view around Pluto. In the toolbar, set the Time Flow Rate to 1 hour, then click on the Run Time Forward button (a triangle that points to the right). (a) Estimate Charon's orbital period. (b) By following a spot on Pluto's surface, estimate Pluto's rotation period. How does it compare to your answer in part (a)? (c) Select Options > Viewing Location from the menu and set the dropdown boxes at the top of the Viewing Location dialog window to read position moving with and Pluto. Then select the Above orbital plane option and click the Set Location button. Open the Find pane and double-click the entry for the Sun to center the Sun in the view. Set the Time Flow Rate to 1 year, and click on the Run Time Forward button to see the apparent motion of the Sun as seen from Pluto. Observe the motion for several centuries of simulated time. Does the Sun always appear to move at the same speed? Use the properties of Pluto's orbit to explain why or why not.

Search the World Wide Web for a list of trans-Neptunian objects. What are the largest and smallest objects of this sort that have so far been found, and how large are they? Have any objects larger than Eris been found?
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