University of Rochester | 2016 May 26
New model could offer an explanation for cracks like the one on Charon
[c][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5GyTEyXTss[/youtube]Elastic Bodies - Credit: Alice Quillen[/c][hr][/hr]A new model developed by University of Rochester researchers could offer a new explanation as to how cracks on icy moons, such as Pluto’s Charon, formed.
Until now, it was thought that the cracks were the result of geodynamical processes, such as plate tectonics, but the models run by Alice Quillen and her collaborators suggest that a close encounter with another body might have been the cause.
Astronomers have long known that the craters visible on moons were caused by the impact of other bodies, billions of years ago. But for every crash and graze, there would have been many more close encounters. By devising and running a new computer model, Quillen, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rochester, has now shown that the tidal pull exerted by another, similar object could be strong enough to crack the surface of such icy moons. Quillen also thinks that “it might even offer a possible explanation for the crack on Mars, but that’s much harder to model.” ...
Crustal Failure on Icy Moons from a Strong Tidal Encounter - Alice C. Quillen et al
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1512.02154 > 07 Dec 2015 (v1), 05 Apr 2016 (v2)
- Monthly Notices of the RAS 458(3):2890 (2016 May 21) DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stw491
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1601.08222 > 29 Jan 2016 (v1), 03 Mar 2016 (v2)