Astronomers are “Confused” by the Weird Orbit Of Pluto’s Moons
Here is a bit more information on why astronomers are so confused. Apparently they spin in a way that is different than anything else in our solar system:
“The way I would describe this system is not just chaos, but pandemonium,” Mark Showalter, a co-investigator on the New Horizons mission, said today (Nov. 9) during a news conference at the meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. “We honestly have not seen anything like this before, and we still don’t know what to make of it.”
The new results show that as the four moons orbit Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, some of them are spinning incredibly fast, one is spinning backward against its orbit and some are tilted on their sides. This is in stark contrast to nearly every other moon in Earth’s solar system, most of which are locked into a more rigid and unmoving orbit around their parent bodies, making Pluto’s moons the wild children of the solar system.
Do you have any theories on why this is happening? Feel free to comment and we’re looking forward to hearing more from NASA as new data comes in.
thanks to space.com for the great info
thanks to NASA for the pic
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Astronomers are always confused when they think they can know universal trurhs
Reality defies theory
Speculation:
These “moons” are captured debris from the Ort cloud. Pluto’s orbit is also erratic and doesn’t follow along the plane of our star system. Allowing it to pick up these “chaotic” bodies as it travels out into the cloud.
Artificial moon
Looks like Pluto’s nose..