

New Horizons Update: Methane Detected; New Images of Pluto and Charon - armab
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-update-methane-detected-new-images-of-pluto-and-charon-sunrisesunset

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monk_e_boy
Today I learn that Pluto and Charon are tidally locked to each other.

    
    
        > Charon always presents the same face to Pluto, and
        > Pluto always presents the same face to Charon: from 
        > any position on either body, the other is always at 
        > the same position in the sky, or always obscured
    

[http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/8427/are-
there-...](http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/8427/are-there-any-
known-objects-in-a-dual-tidally-locked-orbit)

~~~
ajross
Just to be clear: this is not a new discovery. The mutual tidal locking has
been known experimentally for quite a while, and can be predicted with high
confidence based on their sizes and distance.

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r721
A couple of other updates from yesterday:

"NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Stays the Course to Pluto"

[http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-
Article.php?page=20...](http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-
Article.php?page=20150701)

"New Horizons Color Images Reveal Two Distinct Faces of Pluto, Series of Spots
that Fascinate"

[http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-
Article.php?page=20...](http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-
Article.php?page=20150701-2)

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jug
Wow! The imagery is very quickly getting better now.

