2007-03-04 12:54:39 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The discovery of Charon was a neat example of how it's possible to deduce something with a minimum of information. At the time of discovery, Charon wasn't observed as an independent body; what was discovered was that Pluto's brightness changed over a period of about 6 days. Since earth-based telescopes at the time had a limiting resolution of about half a second of arc, they knew the maximum distance that Charon could be from Pluto: if it were farther away, then telescopes would see Charon as an independent object.
Since they knew the period of Charon's orbit, and they knew the maximum distance that it could be from Pluto, they could calculate the maximum mass that Pluto and Charon combined could be.
2007-03-04 13:25:10 · answer #1 · answered by Rando 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
by calculating their orbital period they were able to determine the mass of both of them put together. then by measuring their size they could make a fairly goo estimate about how heavy each one was.
2007-03-04 13:18:03 · answer #2 · answered by Tim C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋