Impactor Flux on the Pluto-Charon System

DE ELÍA, GONZALO C.; DI SISTO, ROMINA P.; BRUNINI, ADRIÁN

Rio de Janeiro

Congreso; Icy Bodies of the Solar System, Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, IAU Symposium, Volume 263; 2010

Observatorio Nacional de Rio

In this work, we study the impactor flux on Pluto and Charon due to the collisional evolution of Plutinos.To do this, we develop a statistical code that includes catastrophic collisions and cratering events, and takes into account the stability and instability zones of the 3:2 mean motion resonance with Neptune. Our results suggest that if 1 Pluto-sized object is in this resonance, the flux of D = 2 km Plutinos on Pluto is ~4-24 percent of the flux of D = 2 km Kuiper Belt projectiles on Pluto. However, with 5 Pluto-sized objects in the resonance, the contribution of the Plutino population to the impactor flux on Pluto may be comparable to that of the Kuiper Belt. As for Charon, if 1 Pluto-sized object is in the 3:2 resonance, the flux of D = 2 km Plutinos is ~10-63 percent of the flux of D = 2 km impactors coming from the Kuiper Belt. However, with 5 Pluto-sized objects, the Plutino population may be a primary source of the impactor flux on Charon. We conclude that it is necessary to specify the Plutino size distribution and the number of Pluto-sized objects in the 3:2 Neptune resonance in order to determine if the Plutino population is a primary source of impactors on the Pluto-Charon system.