Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers discovered the presence of carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on the northern hemisphere of Pluto’s largest moon – Charon. Charon’s observations also confirmed the signatures of previously known crystalline water ice, ammonia-bearing species, and tholin-like darkening constituents.
The discovery could answer a mystery surrounding Charon’s formation, which has already perplexed astronomers. One of the leading theories says that Charon formed similarly to our moon. An object from Kuiper Belt collided with Pluto and the broken part formed Charon.
Scientists discovered Charon in 1978 and it appears as Pluto’s twin with over 1,200 kilometers wide – about half the size of Pluto, making it the largest known satellite relative to its parent body in our Solar System. Peculiarly, Pluto and Charon have unusual orbits. While Charon revolves around Pluto, Pluto revolves around a central point. Both of the bodies act like double dwarf planets.
As Charon’s surface is not obscured by hyper-volatile ices like Methane, Charon is an excellent candidate to gather valuable insights into processes such as differentiation, radiation exposure, and cratering within the Kuiper Belt.
To see the existence of the compounds, the James Webb Space Telescope uses a technique called Spectrography. The colors of light are broken up into individual colors, like breaking up white light into rainbow colors. Each element or molecule has its own color signature, like a fingerprint.
With the spectral analysis, the study found that CO2 is present in pure crystalline form and, possibly, in intimately mixed states on the surface. Meanwhile, hydrogen peroxide presence indicates active radiolytic/photolytic processing of the water ice-rich surface by solar ultraviolet, solar winds, and galactic cosmic rays.
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“We explore multiple potential sources for the solid CO2 detected on Charon, which includes endogenic, exogenic, and in-situ formation from radiation processing. Each source is considered for its ability to contribute to the spectral features observed on Charon, with careful consideration of the moon’s environmental conditions. This discussion aims to decipher the complex processes that could have contributed to shaping Charon’s present composition, as indicated by spectroscopic evidence.” says the study.
New shreds of evidence from JSWT suggest that the exogenous impactors could have delivered CO2 to Charon’s surface or exposed subsurface CO2 through cratering events. However, the formation of endogenous CO2 on Charon is uncertain, which led scientists to consider the role of in-situ formation of CO2 from radiation processing.
“CO2 produced in situ from radiation processing could contribute to the most surficial (approximately 1-μm penetration depth) CO2 layer.”
Journal Reference:
Protopapa, S., Raut, U., Wong, I., Stansberry, J., Villanueva, G. L., Cook, J., Holler, B., Grundy, W. M., Brunetto, R., Cartwright, R. J., Mamo, B., Emery, J. P., Parker, A. H., Milam, S. N., & Hammel, H. B. (2024). Detection of carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on the stratified surface of Charon with JWST. Nature Communications, 15(1), 1-13. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51826-4