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Science 28 January 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5709, pp. 546 - 550
DOI: 10.1126/science.1106818
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Research Articles

A Giant Impact Origin of Pluto-Charon

Robin M. Canup

Pluto and its moon, Charon, are the most prominent members of the Kuiper belt, and their existence holds clues to outer solar system formation processes. Here, hydrodynamic simulations are used to demonstrate that the formation of Pluto-Charon by means of a large collision is quite plausible. I show that such an impact probably produced an intact Charon, although it is possible that a disk of material orbited Pluto from which Charon later accumulated. These findings suggest that collisions between 1000-kilometer-class objects occurred in the early inner Kuiper belt.

Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA, and Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

E-mail: robin{at}boulder.swri.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Mass of Dwarf Planet Eris.
M. E. Brown and E. L. Schaller (2007)
Science 316, 1585
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Forced Resonant Migration of Pluto's Outer Satellites by Charon.
W. R. Ward and R. M. Canup (2006)
Science 313, 1107-1109
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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