Researchers recognize a possible clue for Pluto’s moon Charon’s red cap

Southwest Research Institute scientists mixed data based on NASA’s New Horizons mission along with novel lab experiments and exospheric modeling to reveal the likely composition of the red cap on Pluto’s moon Charon and how it might’ve formed. This primary description of Charon’s dynamic methane atmosphere based on recent experimental data provides a spectacular brief view into the origins of Charon’s red spot which are described in two recent papers.

After the 2015 encounter in which the New Horizon flyby of Charon reveals the moon’s red cap, New Horizon researchers suggest that reddish” tholin-like” material at Charon’s north pole could be synthesized by ultraviolet light (UV) splitting down molecules of methane. These red tholins are collected after escaping from Pluto and then frozen onto the moon’s polar regions during their long winter nights. Tholins are sticky organic material remaining created by chemical reactions powered by light, in this scenario Lyman-alpha ultraviolet light is scattered by interplanetary hydrogen molecules.

“Our findings indicate that drastic seasonal surges in Charon’s thin atmosphere, as well as light breaking down the condensing methane frost, are key to understanding the origins of Charon’s polar zone,” stated SwRI’s Dr. Ujjwal Raut, lead author of the paper titled “Charon’s red polar zone,” in the journal Science Advances. According to Dr. Ujjwal Raut, this is one of the most illustrative and detailed examples of surface-atmospheric interactions that’s been observed at a planetary-like body.

The team has successfully and realistically replicated the surface conditions of Charon at SwRI’s new Center for Laboratory astrophysics and Space Science Experiments (CLASSE) to measure the color and composition of hydrocarbons on Charon’s cold hemisphere as methane freezes beneath the Lyman-alpha glow. The team decided to reinforce the measurements into a new atmospheric model of Charon to display methane splitting down into residue on Charon’s red spot.

The team’s novel ‘dynamic photolysis’ experiments gave out new limits toward the contribution of the interplanetary Lyman-alpha to the synthesis of Charon’s red tholin substances. According to Dr. Ujjwal Raut, the team’s experiment condensed methane in an ultra-high vacuum chamber under exposure to Lyman-alpha photons to replicate with high fidelity the condition at Charon’s poles. SWRI scientists also build a new digital simulation to model the thin atmosphere of Charon.

Lead author of another paper titled “Extreme Exosphere Dynamics at Charon: Implications for the Red Spot” in Geophysical Research Letter stated,” the model points to ‘explosive’ seasonal pulsations in Charon’s atmosphere due to extreme shifts in conditions over Pluto’s long journey around the Sun,” The new atmospheric model of Charon primarily producing ethane, a material lacking in color not playing a role to the reddish color.

The team suggests ionizing light from the solar wind breaks up the Lyman-alpha-cooked polar frost to synthesize increasingly complex, red tholins responsible for the unique diffuse reflection of this complex moon. Ethane is a substance less tense than methane and stays frozen to Charon’s surface long after spring sunrise. Ethane in direct exposure to solar wind most likely will transform into reddish surface deposits that are the primary cause of Charon’s red cap.

This is a 2015 image capture of Pluto’s largest moon Charon taken during the New Horizon Mission. Southwest Research Institute scientists’ new findings propose that the dramatic seasonal changes combined with radiation decaying condensing methane may be the clue to comprehending the origin of Charon’s red polar zones.

Image Credit: NASA/ John Hopkins APL/ SwRI

156 thoughts on “Researchers recognize a possible clue for Pluto’s moon Charon’s red cap”

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