Why is it the natural state for moons to be tidally locked with their parent planet? With only a few exceptions planets moons always have the same side facing the planet. The craziest exception is the Pluto system with planets/moons in orbital resonance but also with the moons having rotational chaos, apart from Pluto/Charon which …
More orbital resonance systems of the planets and their moons in our solar system – this time the Pluto system with Charon, Hydra, Nix and Kerberos. But the Pluto binary system also has a massive surprise, its smaller moons rotation are very chaotic with their spin all at different speeds and even one in a …
Large amounts of frozen ammonia have been detected in and around the area of a crater on Pluto’s satellite moon Charon. Other amounts of ammonia are found nearby. A general detection of ammonia had been found previously but not in a defined location. A similar sized crater nearby does not have any ammonia in it …
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft mission to Pluto and Charon is about to wake up from its latest hibernation as it approaches the planet Pluto. Or is it the dwarf planet Pluto? Or a dwarf gas giant? Or a dwarf ice planet? Or large icy comet/asteroid planet? By April New Horizons should be slowly sending us …
New Horizons mission to Pluto and Charon – what will it find? Read More »