Lecture 20

Question 1

New Horizons Mission Objectives

Answer 1

• Map surface composition of Pluto and Charon
• Characterize geology of Pluto and Charon
• Characterize the Neutral Atmosphere and Pluto and Escape Rate
• Search for Atmosphere around Charon
• Map Surface Temps
• Search for Rings

Question 2

What is the Kuiper belt

Answer 2

• Consists of trillions of objects orbiting the sun beyond Neptune
• KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects)

Question 3

What are the Largest KBOs

Answer 3

Pluto and Eris

Question 4

What is the Pluto-Charon System

Answer 4

• The Pluto-Charon system, prior to the New Horizons mission, was known for its unique characteristics such as their mutual orbit, their sizes and densities, and the fact that they always face each other.
• Pluto’s surface was identified to have water ice and methane (CH4), a faint atmosphere, and a suggestion of very cold nitrogen (N2) and carbon monoxide (CO) ice

Question 5

Pluto: Geological Features

Answer 5

• Convection cells in nitrogen ice
• Dunes
• Water-ice rich crust
• Disrupted Uplands and Sputnik Planitia

Question 6

Interior Differences btwn Pluto and Charon

Answer 6

• Both are differentiated
  ↳ Charons geologically dead
• Pluto is still active

Question 7

Triton(Neptunes moon) compared to Pluto and Charon

Answer 7

• Triton is likely a captured KBO
• Trion is bigger than both
• Greater density than both
• Almost same composition and temperature

Question 8

What are Comets

Answer 8

• Comets are small, ice-rich bodies that formed in the outer Solar System
• Comet sources today come from the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud

Question 9

Comet Characteristics

Answer 9

• CHON
  ↳ carbon-hudrogen-oxygen-nitrogen
• Silicates and other minerals to what is found in chondrites

Question 9

Significance of Comets

Answer 9

• Formed in the outer solar system at 4.57 Ga
• Too small to be heated
• Existed at cryogenic temps since formation
• Provide insights into mixing of material in the disk

Question 10

Churyumov-Gerasimenko (C-G)

Answer 10

• Studied by EAS Rosetta mission
• ~4km nucleus
• Rosetta was the main spacecraft
  ↳ Philae was the lander

Question 11

Philae (lander) Results

Answer 11

• Able to take photos of the surface
• Measure T & D
• Radar probe of interior
  ↳ Did no extract a core sample or detect organic molecules