Hunting for Moons of Dwarf Planet Haumea

A Deep Search for Additional Satellites around the Dwarf Planet Haumea

Authors:

Burkhart et al

Abstract:

Haumea is a dwarf planet with two known satellites, an unusually high spin rate, and a large collisional family, making it one of the most interesting objects in the outer solar system. A fully self-consistent formation scenario responsible for the satellite and family formation is still elusive, but some processes predict the initial formation of many small moons, similar to the small moons recently discovered around Pluto. Deep searches for regular satellites around KBOs are difficult due to observational limitations, but Haumea is one of the few for which sufficient data exist. We analyze Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations, focusing on a ten-consecutive-orbit sequence obtained in July 2010, to search for new very small satellites. To maximize the search depth, we implement and validate a non-linear shift-and-stack method. No additional satellites of Haumea are found, but by implanting and recovering artificial sources, we characterize our sensitivity. At distances between ∼10,000 km and ∼350,000 km from Haumea, satellites with radii as small as ∼10 km are ruled out, assuming an albedo (p≃0.7) similar to Haumea. We also rule out satellites larger than ≳40 km in most of the Hill sphere using other HST data. This search method rules out objects similar in size to the small moons of Pluto. By developing clear criteria for determining the number of non-linear rates to use, we find that far fewer shift rates are required (∼35) than might be expected. The non-linear shift-and-stack method to discover satellites (and other moving transients) is tractable, particularly in the regime where non-linear motion begins to manifest itself.

Discovery of a Makemakean Moon

Discovery of a Makemakean Moon

Authors:

Parker et al

Abstract:

We describe the discovery of a satellite in orbit about the dwarf planet (136472) Makemake. This satellite, provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1, was detected in imaging data collected with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 on UTC April 27, 2015 at 7.80±0.04 magnitudes fainter than Makemake. It likely evaded detection in previous satellite searches due to a nearly edge-on orbital configuration, placing it deep within the glare of Makemake during a substantial fraction of its orbital period. This configuration would place Makemake and its satellite near a mutual event season. Insufficient orbital motion was detected to make a detailed characterization of its orbital properties, prohibiting a measurement of the system mass with the discovery data alone. Preliminary analysis indicates that if the orbit is circular, its orbital period must be longer than 12.4 days, and must have a semi-major axis ≳21,000 km. We find that the properties of Makemake's moon suggest that the majority of the dark material detected in the system by thermal observations may not reside on the surface of Makemake, but may instead be attributable to S/2015 (136472) 1 having a uniform dark surface. This "dark moon hypothesis" can be directly tested with future JWST observations. We discuss the implications of this discovery for the spin state, figure, and thermal properties of Makemake and the apparent ubiquity of trans-Neptunian dwarf planet satellites.

Kuiper Belt Object MakeMake has a Moon

Peering to the outskirts of our solar system, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake, the second brightest icy dwarf planet -- after Pluto -- in the Kuiper Belt.

The moon -- provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2 -- is more than 1,300 times fainter than Makemake. MK 2 was seen approximately 13,000 miles from the dwarf planet, and its diameter is estimated to be 100 miles across. Makemake is 870 miles wide. The dwarf planet, discovered in 2005, is named for a creation deity of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.

The Kuiper Belt is a vast reservoir of leftover frozen material from the construction of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago and home to several dwarf planets. Some of these worlds have known satellites, but this is the first discovery of a companion object to Makemake. Makemake is one of five dwarf planets recognized by the International Astronomical Union.

The observations were made in April 2015 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. Hubble's unique ability to see faint objects near bright ones, together with its sharp resolution, allowed astronomers to pluck out the moon from Makemake's glare. The discovery was announced today in a Minor Planet Electronic Circular.

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Eruptions of Galilean Moon Io's Pillan Volcanoes From 1996 to 2015

Io: Eruptions at Pillan, and the time evolution of Pele and Pillan from 1996 to 2015

Authors:

de Pater et al

Abstract:

Observations obtained with the near-infrared camera NIRC2, coupled to the adaptive optics system on the 10-m W.M. Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, on 14 August 2007 revealed an active and highly-energetic eruption at Pillan at 245.2 ± 0.7°W and 8.5 ± 0.5°S. A one-temperature blackbody fit to the data revealed a (blackbody) temperature of 840 ± 40 K over an area of 17 km2, with a total power output of ∼500 GW. Using Davies’ (Davies, A.G. [1996]. Icarus 124(1), 45–61) Io Flow Model, we find that the oldest lava present is less than 1-2 h old, having cooled down from the eruption temperature of greater than 1400 K to ∼710 K; this young hot lava suggests that an episode of lava fountaining was underway. In addition to an examination of this eruption, we present data of the Pele and Pillan volcanoes obtained with the same instrument and telescope from 2002 through 2015. These data reveal another eruption at Pillan on UT 28 June 2010. Model fits to this eruption yield a blackbody temperature of 600–700 K over an area of ∼60 km2, radiating over 600 GW. On UT 18 February 2015 an energetic eruption was captured by the InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) via mutual event occultations. The eruption took place at 242.7 ± 1°W and 12.4 ± 1°S, i.e., in the eastern part of Pillan Patera. Subsequent observations showed a gradual decrease in the intensity of the eruption. Images obtained with the Keck telescope on 31 March and 5 May 2015 revealed that the locations of the eruption had shifted by 120–160 km to the NW.

In contrast to the episodicity of Pillan, Pele has been persistent, observed in every appropriate 4.7 μm observation. Pele was remarkably consistent in its thermal emission from the Galileo era through February 2002, when a blackbody temperature of 940 ± 40 K and an area of 6.5 km2 was measured. Since that time, however, the radiant flux from what is likely a apparently large, overturning lava lake has gradually subsided over the next decade by a factor of ∼4, while the location of the thermal source was moving back and forth between areas roughly ∼100 km to the W of the 2002 location and an area roughly ∼100 km to the SE of the 2002 location.

Does Io Have a Subsurface Magma Sea?

Tides flowing in a subsurface ocean of molten rock, or magma, could explain why Jupiter's moon Io appears to have its volcanoes in the "wrong" place. New NASA research implies that oceans beneath the crusts of tidally stressed moons may be more common and last longer than expected. The phenomenon applies to oceans made from either magma or water, potentially increasing the odds for life elsewhere in the universe.

"This is the first time the amount and distribution of heat produced by fluid tides in a subterranean magma ocean on Io has been studied in detail," said Robert Tyler of the University of Maryland, College Park and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We found that the pattern of tidal heating predicted by our fluid-tide model is able to produce the surface heat patterns that are actually observed on Io." Tyler is lead author of a paper on this research published June 2015 in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series.

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Pluto's Potato Moons: Hydra and (pink) Nix

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Pluto and Charon Again, Color Corrected and Scaled

Nix: Pluto's OTHER Moon (Space Cornflake?)

Asteroid 2014 OL339: Yet Another Earth Quasi-Moon

Asteroid 2014 OL339: yet another Earth quasi-satellite

Authors:

de la Fuente Marcos et al

Abstract:

Our planet has one permanently bound satellite -the Moon-, a likely large number of mini-moons or transient irregular natural satellites, and three temporary natural retrograde satellites or quasi-satellites. These quasi-moons -(164207) 2004 GU9, (277810) 2006 FV35 and 2013 LX28- are unbound companions to the Earth. The orbital evolution of quasi-satellites may transform them into temporarily bound satellites of our planet. Here, we study the dynamical evolution of the recently discovered Aten asteroid 2014 OL339 to show that it is currently following a quasi-satellite orbit with respect to the Earth. This episode started at least about 775 yr ago and it will end 165 yr from now. The orbit of this object is quite chaotic and together with 164207 are the most unstable of the known Earth quasi-satellites. This group of minor bodies is, dynamically speaking, very heterogeneous but three of them exhibit Kozai-like dynamics: the argument of perihelion of 164207 oscillates around -90 degrees, the one of 277810 librates around 180 degrees and that of 2013 LX28 remains around 0 degrees. Asteroid 2014 OL339 is not currently engaged in any Kozai-like dynamics.

Simulating Titan's Organic Haze Creates Prebiotic Microstructures

Surface-active substances in a laboratory simulated Titan's organic haze: Prebiotic microstructures

Authors:

Jagota et al

Abstract:

Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, is a key planetary body for astrobiological studies due to its active organic chemistry, hydrocarbon lakes and possible subsurface water-ammonia liquids. We have investigated the physicochemical properties of organic compounds synthesized in a simulated Titan atmosphere. A laboratory analogue of Titan's aerosols, called tholin, was produced by irradiation of a nitrogen/methane gas mixture. The primary aim was to determine whether tholin represent possible sources of surface-active substances that could have been involved in the formation of prebiotic structures. A tholin sample was extracted with chloroform-methanol and the chloroform soluble material was separated by two-dimensional thin layer chromatography. Fluorescence excited by UV light was used to identify the major components on the plates. After being scraped from the TLC plate, the components were eluted as specific fractions and investigated by surface chemical methods, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Fractions 1 and 2 were strongly fluorescent and surface active, producing films at air-water interfaces. When exposed to aqueous phases, components in fraction 1 form spherical microstructures resembling prebionts. The prebionts are precursor structures that might have evolved into the first living cells.

Uranus' Cupid is Doomed

Cupid is Doomed: An Analysis of the Stability of the Inner Uranian Satellites

Authors:

French et al

Abstract:

We have explored the stability of the inner Uranian satellites using simulations based on the most recent observational data. We find that, across a wide range of mass assumptions, the system is unstable, resulting in the eventual crossing of orbits and probable subsequent collision of moons. Cupid and Belinda are usually the first satellites to cross orbits, and they do so on a time scale of 10^3-10^7 years. Cressida and Desdemona are generally the next pair to cross, on a time scale of 10^5-10^7 years. We show that the crossing times are highly sensitive to initial conditions and that Cupid's instability is related to its resonant interactions with Belinda. We also show that a previously discovered power law, which relates orbit crossing time to satellite mass, is valid across a wide range of masses. We generalize the power law to handle two unstable orbital pairs with overlapping lifetimes and show that it can be used to extend the time span of studies of orbital stability in a computationally efficient manner. Our results suggest that the current Uranian satellite system is in transition and that the moons will continue to collide and reaccrete for the foreseeable future.

Where did Pluto's Small Moons Come From?

On the Origin of Pluto's Small Satellites by Resonant Transport

Authors:

Cheng et al

Abstract:

The orbits of Pluto's four small satellites (Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra) are nearly circular and coplanar with the orbit of the large satellite Charon, with orbital periods nearly in the ratios 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, and 6:1 with Charon's orbital period. These properties suggest that the small satellites were created during the same impact event that placed Charon in orbit and had been pushed to their current positions by being locked in mean-motion resonances with Charon as Charon's orbit was expanded by tidal interactions with Pluto. Using the Pluto-Charon tidal evolution models developed by Cheng et al. (2014), we show that stable capture and transport of a test particle in multiple resonances at the same mean-motion commensurability is possible at the 5:1, 6:1, and 7:1 commensurabilities, if Pluto's zonal harmonic J2P=0. However, the test particle has significant orbital eccentricity at the end of the tidal evolution of Pluto-Charon in almost all cases, and there are no stable captures and transports at the 3:1 and 4:1 commensurabilities. Furthermore, a non-zero hydrostatic value of J2P destroys the conditions necessary for multiple resonance migration. Simulations with finite but minimal masses of Nix and Hydra also fail to yield any survivors. We conclude that the placing of the small satellites at their current orbital positions by resonant transport is extremely unlikely.

Is Carbonic Acid the Source of Carbon Dioxide on Icy Moons?

CARBONIC ACID AS A RESERVE OF CARBON DIOXIDE ON ICY MOONS: THE FORMATION OF CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) IN A POLAR ENVIRONMENT

Authors:

Jones et al

Abstract:

Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been detected on the surface of several icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn via observation of the ν3 band with the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on board the Galileo spacecraft and the Visible-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on board the Cassini spacecraft. Interestingly, the CO2 band for several of these moons exhibits a blueshift along with a broader profile than that seen in laboratory studies and other astrophysical environments. As such, numerous attempts have been made in order to clarify this abnormal behavior; however, it currently lacks an acceptable physical or chemical explanation. We present a rather surprising result pertaining to the synthesis of carbon dioxide in a polar environment. Here, carbonic acid was synthesized in a water (H2O)-carbon dioxide (CO2) (1:5) ice mixture exposed to ionizing radiation in the form of 5 keV electrons. The irradiated ice mixture was then annealed, producing pure carbonic acid which was then subsequently irradiated, recycling water and carbon dioxide. However, the observed carbon dioxide ν3 band matches almost exactly with that observed on Callisto; subsequent temperature program desorption studies reveal that carbon dioxide synthesized under these conditions remains in solid form until 160 K, i.e., the sublimation temperature of water. Consequently, our results suggest that carbon dioxide on Callisto as well as other icy moons is indeed complexed with water rationalizing the shift in peak frequency, broad profile, and the solid state existence on these relatively warm moons.

Novel Ice Chemistry in the Outer Solar System

ICE CHEMISTRY ON OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES: CARBOXYLIC ACIDS, NITRILES, AND UREA DETECTED IN REFRACTORY RESIDUES PRODUCED FROM THE UV PHOTOLYSIS OF N2:CH4:CO-CONTAINING ICES

Authors:

Materese et al

Abstract:

Radiation processing of the surface ices of outer solar system bodies may result in the production of new chemical species even at low temperatures. Many of the smaller, more volatile molecules that are likely produced by the photolysis of these ices have been well characterized by laboratory experiments. However, the more complex refractory material formed in these experiments remains largely uncharacterized. In this work, we present a series of laboratory experiments in which low-temperature (15-20 K) N2:CH4:CO ices in relative proportions 100:1:1 are subjected to UV irradiation, and the resulting materials are studied with a variety of analytical techniques including infrared spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, and high-resolution mass spectroscopy. Despite the simplicity of the reactants, these experiments result in the production of a highly complex mixture of molecules from relatively low-mass volatiles (tens of daltons) to high-mass refractory materials (hundreds of daltons). These products include various carboxylic acids, nitriles, and urea, which are also expected to be present on the surface of outer solar system bodies, including Pluto and other transneptunian objects. If these compounds occur in sufficient concentrations in the ices of outer solar system bodies, their characteristic bands may be detectable in the near-infrared spectra of these objects.

How Grooved Terrain on Icy Moons Formed

A Common Origin for Ridge-and-Trough Terrain on Icy Satellites by Sluggish Lid Convection

Authors:

Barr et al

Abstract:

Ridge and trough terrain is a common landform on icy satellites of the outer solar system. Examples include the grooved terrain on Ganymede, gray bands on Europa, coronae on Uranus's moon Miranda, and ridges and troughs in the northern plains of Saturn's small, but active, moon Enceladus. Regardless of setting, the heat flow and strain rates associated with the formation of each of these terrains are similar: heat flows of order tens to a hundred milliwatts per meter squared, and deformation rates of order 10−16 to 10−12 s−1. Barr (2008) and Hammond & Barr (2014a) have previously shown that the conditions associated with the formation of ridge and trough terrain on Ganymede and the south polar terrain on Enceladus are consistent with solid-state ice shell convection in a shell with a weak surface. Here, we show that sluggish lid convection can simultaneously create the heat flow and deformation appropriate for the formation of ridge and trough terrains on a number of satellites. This conclusion holds regardless of the thickness of the satellites' ice shells. For convection to deform their surfaces, the ice shells must have yield stresses similar in magnitude to the daily tidal stresses exerted by the gravitational pull from their parent planets. This suggests that tidal and convective stresses must act together to deform the surface, and that the spatial pattern of tidal cracking on the surfaces of the moons controls the locations of ridge and trough terrain.

Evidence of Ethane in Titan's Atmosphere

Titan's atmosphere as observed by VIMS/Cassini solar occultations: CH4, CO and evidence for C2H6 absorption

Authors:

Maltagliati et al

Abstract:

We present an analysis of the VIMS solar occultations dataset, which extracts vertically resolved information on the characteristics of Titan's atmosphere between 100-700 km with a characteristic vertical resolution of 10 km. After a series of data treatment procedures to correct problems in pointing stability and parasitic light, 4 occultations out of 10 are retained. This sample covers different seasons and latitudes of Titan. Through the inversion of the transmission spectra with a line-by-line radiative transfer code we retrieve the vertical distribution of CH4 and CO mixing ratio. The two methane bands at 1.4 and 1.7 {\mu}m are always in good agreement and yield an average stratospheric abundance of 1.28±0.06%. This is significantly less than the value of 1.48% obtained by the GCMS/Huygens instrument. The analysis of the residual spectra after the inversion shows that there are additional absorptions which affect a great part of the VIMS wavelength range. We attribute many of these additional bands to gaseous ethane, whose near-infrared spectrum is not well modeled yet. Ethane contributes significantly to the strong absorption between 3.2-3.5 {\mu}m that was previously attributed only to C-H stretching bands from aerosols. Ethane bands may also influence the surface windows, especially at 2.7 {\mu}m. Other residual bands are generated by stretching modes of C-H, C-C and C-N bonds. In addition to the C-H stretch from aliphatic hydrocarbons at 3.4 {\mu}m, we detect a strong and narrow absorption at 3.28 {\mu}m which we tentatively attribute to the presence of PAHs in the stratosphere. C-C and C-N stretching bands are possibly present between 4.3-4.5 {\mu}m. Finally, we obtained the CO mixing ratio between 70-170 km. The average result of 46±16 ppm is in good agreement with previous studies.

Does Titan Have Subterranean Clathrate Reservoirs?

Equilibrium composition between liquid and clathrate reservoirs on Titan

Authors:

Mousis et al

Abstract:

Hundreds of lakes and a few seas of liquid hydrocarbons have been observed by the Cassini spacecraft to cover the polar regions of Titan. A significant fraction of these lakes or seas could possibly be interconnected with subsurface liquid reservoirs of alkanes. In this paper, we investigate the interplay that would happen between a reservoir of liquid hydrocarbons located in Titan's subsurface and a hypothetical clathrate reservoir that progressively forms if the liquid mixture diffuses throughout a preexisting porous icy layer. To do so, we use a statistical-thermodynamic model in order to compute the composition of the clathrate reservoir that forms as a result of the progressive entrapping of the liquid mixture. This study shows that clathrate formation strongly fractionates the molecules between the liquid and the solid phases. Depending on whether the structure I or structure II clathrate forms, the present model predicts that the liquid reservoirs would be mainly composed of either propane or ethane, respectively. The other molecules present in the liquid are trapped in clathrates. Any river or lake emanating from subsurface liquid reservoirs that significantly interacted with clathrate reservoirs should present such composition. On the other hand, lakes and rivers sourced by precipitation should contain higher fractions of methane and nitrogen, as well as minor traces of argon and carbon monoxide.

 

Problems With the Jumping Jupiter Scenario Based on Galilean Moon Orbits

Orbital Perturbations of the Galilean Satellites During Planetary Encounters

Authors:

Deienno et al

Abstract:

The Nice model of the dynamical instability and migration of the giant planets can explain many properties of the present Solar System, and can be used to constrain its early architecture. In the jumping-Jupiter version of the Nice model, required from the terrestrial planet constraint and dynamical structure of the asteroid belt, Jupiter has encounters with an ice giant. Here we study the survival of the Galilean satellites in the jumping-Jupiter model. This is an important concern because the ice-giant encounters, if deep enough, could dynamically perturb the orbits of the Galilean satellites, and lead to implausible results. We performed numerical integrations where we tracked the effect of planetary encounters on the Galilean moons. We considered three instability cases from Nesvorny & Morbidelli (2012) that differed in the number and distribution of encounters. We found that in one case, where the number of close encounters was relatively small, the Galilean satellite orbits were not significantly affected. In the other two, the orbital eccentricities of all moons were excited by encounters, Callisto's semimajor axis changed, and, in a large fraction of trials, the Laplace resonance of the inner three moons was disrupted. The subsequent evolution by tides damps eccentricities and can recapture the moons in the Laplace resonance. A more important constraint is represented by the orbital inclinations of the moons, which can be excited during the encounters and not appreciably damped by tides. We find that one instability case taken from Nesvorny & Morbidelli (2012) clearly fails this constraint. This shows how the regular satellites of Jupiter can be used to set limits on the properties of encounters in the jumping-Jupiter model, and help us to better understand how the early Solar System evolved.

Diacetylene in Titan's Atmosphere

Revised Infrared Bending Mode Intensities For Diacetylene (C4h2): Application To Titan

Authors:

Jolly et al

Abstract:

Diacetylene (C4H2) has been observed in various astrophysical environments in the infrared range through the bending modes ν8 at 628.0 and ν9 at 220.1 cm−1. Accurate intensity measurements of both modes are necessary to obtain precise abundance determination. Laboratory spectra covering both bending modes have been recorded with a pure diacetylene sample. Precise band intensities have been measured showing large discrepancies compared to previous studies, reaching a factor 2.3 for the ν9 band and a smaller difference of 20% for the ν8 band. Consequences on the determination of abundances of diacetylene in Titan's atmosphere are discussed.

The Salty Seas of Ganymede and Callisto

Ganymede's Internal Structure Including Thermodynamics of Magnesium Sulfate Oceans in Contact with Ice

Authors:

Vance et al

Abstract:

The large icy moons of Jupiter contain vast quantities of liquid water, a key ingredient for life. Ganymede and Callisto are weaker candidates for habitability than Europa, in part because of the model-based assumption that high-pressure ice layers cover their seafloors and prevent significant water-rock interaction. Water-rock interactions may occur, however, if heating at the rock-ice interface melts the high pressure ice. Highly saline fluids would be gravitationally stable, and might accumulate under the ice due to upward migration, refrng, and fractionation of salt from less concentrated liquids. To assess the influence of salinity on Ganymede's internal structure, we use available phase-equilibrium data to calculate activity coefficients and predict the freezing of water ice in the presence of aqueous magnesium sulfate. We couple this new equation of state with thermal profiles in Ganymede's interior—employing recently published thermodynamic data for the aqueous phase—to estimate the thicknesses of layers of ice I, III, V, and VI. We compute core and silicate mantle radii consistent with available constraints on Ganymede's mass and gravitational moment of inertia. Mantle radii range from 800 to 900 km for the values of salt and heat flux considered here (4 to 44 mW m−2 and 0 to 10 Wt% MgSO4). Ocean concentrations with salinity higher than 10 Wt% have little high pressure ice. Even in a ganymede ocean that is mostly liquid, achieving such high ocean salinity is permissible for the range of likely S/Si ratios. However, elevated salinity requires a smaller silicate mantle radius to satisfy mass and moment-of-inertia constraints, so ice VI is always present in Ganymede's ocean. For lower values of heat flux, oceans with salinity as low as 3 Wt% can co-exist with ice III. Available experimental data indicate ice phases III and VI become buoyant for salinity higher than 5 Wt% and 10 Wt%, respectively. Similar behavior probably occurs for ice V at salinities higher than 10 Wt%. Flotation can occur over tens of kilometers of depth, indicating the possibility for upward ‘snow’ or other exotic modes of heat and material transport.