New research challenges the traditional understanding of Pluto's formation, proposing a 'kiss and capture' scenario involving a collision with Charon that resulted in their shared orbit.
New research from the University of Arizona (U of A) suggests that Pluto may not have originated from a collision but rather a 'kiss and capture'. The study examines how Pluto and its moon, Charon , formed after a collision. Instead of annihilating each other, the two celestial bodies spiraled together like a cosmic snowman before separating into two distinct bodies. Uniquely, Pluto and Charon now share the same orbit.
This discovery provides insights into planet formation and evolution, particularly for icy worlds. The research team describes this new type of cosmic collision as a 'kiss and capture', followed by deformation and stretching of planetary materials – similar to silly putty – until they were pulled into Earth’s orbit and solidified into the moon. Previous theories posited that Earth was hotter and its surface more molten, facilitating the fluid behavior of planetary materials during a collision. However, Pluto, being significantly colder than Earth and likely more brittle, presents a different scenario. 'Pluto and Charon are different – they're smaller, colder, and primarily composed of rock and ice,' said Adeene Denton, a NASA postdoctoral fellow who conducted the research at the U of A Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and lead author of the study, in a press release. “When we accounted for the actual strength of these materials, we discovered something completely unexpected.” Through advanced software simulations at the U of A, the research team observed that Pluto, and what would become Charon, temporarily locked together instead of stretching like putty. The two then rotated as a unified snowman-shaped cluster before separating into a binary system. According to the researchers, a binary system occurs when two celestial bodies orbit around a shared center, akin to two figure skaters spinning while holding hands
Pluto Charon Binary System Cosmic Collision Planet Formation
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