| Piú viste - Pluto and Charon: The "Double Planet" |
ZP-Pluto System 01.jpgPluto's System: first scheme of the possible orbits54 visiteHubble reveals two previously undetected satellites likely orbiting Pluto in the same plane as Pluto's moon, Charon. The two objects are estimated to have diameters between 30/40 and 100/125 miles (such as from about 48/64 and 160/200 Km) and both orbit roughly 27.000 miles (about 43.000 Km) from Pluto.
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ZR-Pluto System 04.jpgPluto's System: second scheme of the possible orbits54 visiteAlthough a full orbital solution for the satellites cannot be determined from only two HST measurements, it turns that their paths closely follow that expected for objects orbiting the Pluto System's barycenter in a perfect circle in the same plane as Charon's orbit. In this diagram, the barycenter is the dot in the center, Pluto's orbit is the smallest ellipse, Charon's orbit is the next ellipse (its position on May 15 and May 18 are indicated by the filled and open circles, respectively), an orbit that is consistent with P2's measured positions is next, followed by an orbit that is consistent with P1's measured positions. For both of the latter cases, the filled squares are positions on May 15 and open squares are positions on May 18.
Note: the so-called "projection effects" cause the circular orbits to look elliptical on the plane of the sky.
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ZS-Pluto System 00.jpgPluto's System: the movements of the bodies in three days54 visiteThese HST images, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys, reveal Pluto, its large moon Charon, and the planet's two new candidate satellites. Between May 15 and May 18, 2005, Charon, and the putative moons, provisionally designated P1 and P2, all appear to rotate counterclockwise around Pluto. P1 and P2 move less than Charon because they are farther from Pluto and therefore would be orbiting at slower speeds. P1 and P2 are thousands of times less bright than Pluto and Charon. The enhanced-color images of Pluto (the brightest object) and Charon (to the right of Pluto) were constructed by combining short exposure images taken in filters near 475 nnmts (blue) and 555 nnmts (green-yellow). The image of the new moons were made from longer exposures taken in a single filter centered near 606 nnmts (yellow) and therefore no color information is available for them.
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ZT-2005-19-c-large_web.jpgPluto's System: the best images so far (1)54 visiteEd ora, per concludere, una nostra modesta speculazione: come avete letto e notato, gli Scienziati che stanno studiando le immagini HST, cercano (come ovvio) di ricondurre i possibili movimenti orbitali dei 2 nuovi oggetti individuati nelle immediate prossimità del Sistema Plutone-Caronte agli schemi orbitali tradizionali classici i quali prevedono, in buona sostanza, l'esistenza di un corpo centrale maggiore (il 'Parent-Planet') ed "n" corpi secondari minori ('moons' o 'satellites') che gli orbitano intorno.
Ebbene, in assenza di dati decisivi e definitivi (per ora), potremmo considerare anche un'altra ipotesi, e cioè che i due nuovi oggetti sìano essi stessi un Sistema Binario (in questo caso "puro", e cioè senza "Parent Planet") il quale si muove attorno al Sistema Plutone-Caronte.
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ZU-2005-19-b-large_web.jpgPluto's System: the best images so far (2)54 visiteSemplifichiamo: la nostra speculazione dice che i due nuovi corpi (che chiameremo P1 e P2) NON orbitano attorno a Plutone in un rapporto riconducibile al modello classico "Satellite:Parent Planet", bensì costituiscono un Sistema Binario Indipendente il quale si trova in - semplice - equilibrio gravitazionale rispetto ad un altro Sistema Indipendente.
Le prove di una simile (azzardata, ma affascinante) costruzione, le potremmo trovare solo studiando in maniera ultra-dettagliata i movimenti di P1 e P2 rispetto a Plutone e Caronte. Movimenti che, se la nostra speculazione fosse corretta, configurerebbero percorsi orbitali - dal nostro punto di vista - "completamente anomali" e riassumibili in questo schema logico:
Plutone è Parent Planet di Caronte e SOLO di Caronte il quale gli orbita attorno assecondando un'orbita circolare; P1 e P2, invece, si muovono armonicamente l'uno rispetto all'altro e, nel farlo, "orbitano" (in senso ampio) attorno al Sistema Plutone-Caronte (che diventa "Parent System").
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ZYZ-R-Pluto.jpgPluto54 visitenessun commento
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ZZ-New_Horizons-03.jpgOn the way to Pluto: beyond Jupiter (4)54 visiteCaption NASA:"This image shows New Horizons' Current Position (end of February, 2007). The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the spacecraft's path toward Jupiter, Pluto and beyond. Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is above the Sun and "north" of Earth's orbit.
AU -> The graphics on these pages note New Horizons' distance from Earth, Jupiter and Pluto in AU, or Astronomical Units. One AU is the average distance between the Sun and Earth, about 93 MMs or 149,6 MKM.
HV -> The Current Position graphic also notes the spacecraft's Heliocentric Velocity - HV, such as its speed with respect to the Sun - in kilometers per second.
One kilometer per second is equivalent to 0,62 miles per second, or 2237 miles per hour".
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ZZ-New_Horizons-01.jpgOn the way to Pluto: the passing of Mars (2)54 visiteCaption NASA:"New Horizons' trailblazing journey to the Solar System's outermost frontier took it past the orbit of Mars at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 UTC) on April 7, 2006 - 78 days after the spacecraft launched.
At the time, because of Mars' position in its orbit, New Horizons was actually closer to Earth than to Mars - just 93,5 MKM (58,1 MMs) from home, compared to 299 MKM (186 MMs) from the Red Planet. Speeding away from the Sun at 21 Km (about 13 miles) per second, the spacecraft crossed Mars' path some 243 MKM (about 151 MMs) from the Sun - close to the farthest point in Mars' elliptical 687-day orbit".
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ZZ-New_Horizons-00.jpgOn the way to Pluto: the passing of the Moon (1)54 visiteCaption NASA:"The first body New Horizons passed after launch was our own Moon, just 8 hours and 35' after liftoff on Jan. 19, 2006. New Horizons reached the closest distance to the Moon before crossing lunar orbit".
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ZZ-ZZ-Nhsv20071201_0488.jpgWhere's New Horizons? December 2007 (3) - Full Trajectory - Side View54 visiteThis image shows New Horizons' current position along its full planned trajectory. The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the Spacecraft's future path.
Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is slightly above the Orbital Plane of the Planets. MareKromium
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ZZ-ZZ-Nhov20071201_0488.jpgWhere's New Horizons? December 2007 (2) - Full Trajectory: Overhead View54 visiteThis image shows New Horizons' current position along its full planned trajectory. The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the spacecraft's future path.
Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is above the Sun and "North" of Earth's orbit.MareKromium
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ZZ-ZZ-Nhcp20071201_0488.jpgWhere's New Horizons? December 2007 (1) - Current Position54 visiteThis image shows New Horizons' current position. The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the Spacecraft's path toward Jupiter, Pluto and beyond. Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is above the Sun and "North" of Earth's orbit.
What Is an AU? The graphics on these pages note New Horizons' distance from Earth, Jupiter and Pluto in AU, or Astronomical Units. One AU is the average distance between the Sun and Earth, about 93 MMs or 149,6 MKM.
Heliocentric Velocity.
The current position graphic also notes the Spacecraft's Heliocentric Velocity (HV), such as its speed with respect to the Sun - in kilometers per second.
One kilometer per second is equivalent to 0,62 miles per second, or 2237 miles per hour.MareKromium
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