A Pluto–Charon Sonata: The Dynamical Architecture of the Circumbinary Satellite System

@article{Kenyon2018APS,
  title={A Pluto–Charon Sonata: The Dynamical Architecture of the Circumbinary Satellite System},
  author={Scott J. Kenyon and Benjamin C. Bromley},
  journal={The Astronomical Journal},
  year={2018},
  volume={157}
}
Using a large suite of n-body simulations, we explore the discovery space for new satellites in the Pluto–Charon system. For the adopted masses and orbits of the known satellites, there are few stable prograde or polar orbits with semimajor axes , where aH is the semimajor axis of the outermost moon Hydra. Small moons with radii ≲ 2 km and a ≲ 1.1 aH are ejected on timescales ranging from several years to more than 100 Myr. Orbits with a ≳ 1.1 aH are stable on timescales exceeding 150–300 Myr… 
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