Mordor Macula

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Mordor Macula
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An enhanced-color image of Mordor Macula on Charon's north pole
Feature typeDark region
LocationNorth pole of Charon
Diameter475 km
DiscovererNew Horizons
NamingUnofficial
EponymLand of Mordor, from Tolkien mythology

Mordor Macula /ˈmɔːrdɔːr ˈmækjʊlə/ is the informal name for a large red area about 475 km in diameter near the north pole of Charon, Pluto's largest moon.[1][2] It is named after the black land called Mordor in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Geology and origin[edit]

Mordor Macula is located at Charon's north pole.

Mordor Macula is located at Charon's north pole. Due to Charon's current geological inactivity, Mordor Macula has been relatively unchanged since its formation.[3]

The origin of Mordor Macula is not completely understood. It may be a deposit of frozen gases captured from Pluto's escaping atmosphere.[4][5] A leading hypothesis is that nitrogen and methane escape from Pluto's atmosphere and are then deposited into the cold poles of Charon, where scattered ultraviolet light then transforms the molecules into tholins. Despite the fact that during Pluto winter the Northern hemisphere goes without sunlight for more than 100 years, enough radiation makes it to Charon's surface to form the red tholins.[6] This hypothesis implies that a similar red spot should exist on Charon's south pole as well—and indirect evidence suggests this is true.[7]

It is also possible that the Mordor Macula has a cryovolcanic origin.[3] Observations of other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) show similar features as Mordor Macula, making the atmospheric transfer model less likely. A second hypothesis of Mordor Macula's origin states that cryovolcanism in Vulcan Planitia pumped enough methane into the paleoatmosphere from Charon's subsurface to create Mordor Macula. Methane is first released into the atmosphere via cryovolcanism, where most of the gas migrates to Charon's north and south poles, freezing and becoming trapped there as ice. Some of the gas will reach Charon's escape velocity and be lost to space. After a long period of time, solar radiation irradiated the trapped methane ice and produced tholins, creating the dark deposits observed today.[8]

See also[edit]

References[8][edit]

  1. ^ Nemiroff, Robert; Bonnell, Jerry (17 July 2015). "APOD: 2015 July 17 – Charon". Astronomy Picture of the Day. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  2. ^ Lendino, Jamie (15 July 2015). "NASA unveils historic, high-resolution Pluto, Charon, and Hydra photos from New Horizons mission". Extremetech.com. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Menten, Stephanie; Sori, Michael; Bramson, Ali. A Cryovolcanic Origin for Mordor Macula on Charon. AGU Fall Meeting 2021, held in New Orleans, LA, 13-17 December 2021, id. P45C-2449. Bibcode:2021AGUFM.P45C2449M.
  4. ^ Nola Taylor Redd (29 July 2015). "Mystery Solved? Why Pluto's Big Moon Charon Has a Red Pole". SPACE.com. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  5. ^ Scott K. Johnson (September 14, 2016). "Millions of years for half a millimeter: Pluto puts red caps on Charon". Ars Technica. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  6. ^ Grundy, William M. (2020-01-01), Prialnik, Dina; Barucci, M. Antonietta; Young, Leslie A. (eds.), "Chapter 13 - Pluto and Charon as templates for other large Trans-Neptunian objects", The Trans-Neptunian Solar System, Elsevier, pp. 291–305, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-816490-7.00013-8, ISBN 978-0-12-816490-7, retrieved 2024-05-09
  7. ^ Rothery, David (14 September 2016). "Mordor mystery: scientists solve puzzle of the strange, dark north pole on Pluto's moon Charon". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  8. ^ a b Menten, Stephanie M.; Sori, Michael M.; Bramson, Ali M. (2022-08-09). "Endogenically sourced volatiles on Charon and other Kuiper belt objects". Nature Communications. 13 (1): 4457. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-31846-8. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 9363412. PMID 35945207.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
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