|
|
Article: Pluto: evidence for polar caps.
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 3, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Pluto: Evidence for polar caps
In 1985, for the first time in more than a century, the tilt of the orbit of Pluto's moon Charon reached an angle, as seen from Earth, such that observers could begin to see Charon pass in front of and behind its planet. In other words, the two objects appeared alternately to eclipse each other, as they will for about three more years. Now these shadowings, called mutual occultations, have provided data that one astronomer says may represent "a direct detection" of polar caps on Pluto.
Plutonian caps have been suggested before, but they are not necessarily icy deposits on an otherwise bare surface, as in the case of Earth ...