40:
1007:
257:, a generic term for a tar-like mixture of radiation-processed organic compounds. As such, the dark reddish-brown coloration of Mordor Macula is likely caused by tholins as well. However, spectral observations of Charon's north pole is still dominated by signatures of water ice, so the dark deposits must be thin and relatively sparse. This is supported by the inconsistent correlation between the distribution of dark material and local topography, indicating that the material is not a thick and discrete deposit.
234:
356:
Schenk, Paul
Michael; Beyer, Ross A.; McKinnon, William B.; Moore, Jeffrey M.; Spencer, John R.; White, Oliver L.; Singer, Kelsi; Umurhan, Orkan M.; Nimmo, Francis; Lauer, Tod R.; Grundy, William M.; Robbins, Stuart; Stern, S. Alan; Weaver, Harold A.; Young, Leslie A.; Smith, K. Ennico; Olkin, Cathy
245:
The terrain Mordor Macula occupies appears to be rather dramatic, with numerous scarps and irregular depressions. In the direction of the 90°E meridian, Mordor Macula is roughly at the same altitude as Oz Terra. In the direction of the 90°W meridian by contrast, Mordor Macula's terrain gently slopes
224:
on Charon. The floor of
Dorothy is significantly lighter, appearing to carve an arc into the dark core of Mordor Macula. An unnamed ~80 km wide impact crater within Mordor Macula also has a bright floor. Broadly, the distribution of Mordor Macula's dark material seems only loosely influenced by
215:
The boundary of Mordor Macula, though ill-defined, is roughly circular; two major disruptions to this circular boundary are observed, however. One, named McCaffrey Dorsum, is a curvilinear ridge 1–2 kilometers high and stretching between ~150° and ~0°W between 72° and 77°N. McCaffrey Dorsum appears
313:
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
297:
event during
Plutonian spring, where methane and other gases from Pluto's surface may escape the planet's gravity and condense onto Charon's surface, an effect called "cold trapping". This hypothesis implies that a similar red spot should exist on Charon's south pole as well—and indirect evidence
216:
to act as a barrier to the spread or distribution of dark material. The pole-facing slopes of the ridge contain some of the darkest terrain observed on Charon, whilst the equator-facing slopes show little deposition of the dark material. The second disruption is
285:, a generic term for a tar-like organic slurry. 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. The extreme
309:(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
318:
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.
253:
The dark material is reddish-brown in color and has been likened to the dark equatorial belt of Pluto. Pluto's dark equatorial terrain is covered in deposits of
727:
594:
Fayolle, M.; Quirico, E.; Schmitt, B.; et al. (October 2021). "Testing tholins as analogues of the dark reddish material covering Pluto's
Cthulhu region".
541:
Grundy, W. M.; Cruikshank, D. P.; Gladstone, G. R.; et al. (November 2016). "The formation of Charon's red poles from seasonally cold-trapped volatiles".
208:'s north pole. Mordor Macula's dark "core" is roughly 375 kilometers in diameter, though a surrounding lighter halo extends further into the highlands of
1033:
679:
Teolis, Ben; Raut, Ujjwal; Kammer, Joshua A.; Gimar, Caleb J.; Howett, Carly J. A.; Gladstone, G. Randall; Retherford, Kurt D. (28 April 2022).
44:
An enhanced-color image of Mordor Macula on Charon's north pole. The ridge McCaffrey Dorsum curves around the upper center, whilst the crater
246:
downwards to ~2 km below Charon's mean elevation before encountering the McCaffrey Dorsum. Beyond the ridge is a massive deep canyon,
835:
357:(2018). "Breaking up is hard to do: Global cartography and topography of Pluto's mid-sized icy Moon Charon from New Horizons".
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327:
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and are then deposited into the cold poles of Charon, where scattered ultraviolet light then transforms the molecules into
1110:
250:. Due to Charon's current geological inactivity, Mordor Macula has been relatively unchanged since its formation.
17:
294:
265:
The origin of Mordor Macula is not completely understood. It may be a deposit of frozen gases captured from
828:
630:
496:
962:
217:
45:
629:
Grundy, William M. (1 January 2020). Prialnik, Dina; Barucci, M. Antonietta; Young, Leslie A. (eds.).
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517:
728:"Mordor mystery: scientists solve puzzle of the strange, dark north pole on Pluto's moon Charon"
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522:. AGU Fall Meeting 2021, held in New Orleans, LA, 13–17 December 2021, id. P45C-2449.
855:
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212:, beginning to appear north of 45°N and trending darker with increasing latitude.
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754:"Endogenically sourced volatiles on Charon and other Kuiper belt objects"
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Menten, Stephanie M.; Sori, Michael M.; Bramson, Ali M. (9 August 2022).
704:
572:
437:
Grundy, W. M.; Binzel, R. P.; Buratti, B. J.; et al. (March 2016).
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681:"Extreme Exospheric Dynamics at Charon: Implications for the Red Spot"
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186:'s largest moon. It is named after the black land called
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269:'s escaping atmosphere. A leading hypothesis is that
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502:. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. 3 March 2021.
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137:
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131:
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519:A Cryovolcanic Origin for Mordor Macula on Charon
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349:
347:
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301:It is also possible that the Mordor Macula has a
174:is the informal name for a large dark area about
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516:Menten, Stephanie; Sori, Michael; Bramson, Ali.
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511:
509:
407:
439:"Surface compositions across Pluto and Charon"
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293:of Pluto and Charon's orbits drive a large
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14:
1103:
628:
817:
328:List of geological features on Charon
726:Rothery, David (14 September 2016).
178:in diameter near the north pole of
24:
649:10.1016/b978-0-12-816490-7.00013-8
25:
1122:
411:; Bonnell, Jerry (17 July 2015).
27:North polar dark region on Charon
1005:
632:The Trans-Neptunian Solar System
124:
635:. Elsevier. pp. 291–305.
305:origin. Observations of other
13:
1:
413:"APOD: 2015 July 17 – Charon"
333:
48:is located at the upper right
685:Geophysical Research Letters
616:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114574
417:Astronomy Picture of the Day
379:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.06.010
237:Mordor Macula is located at
204:Mordor Macula is located at
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7:
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1111:Surface features of Charon
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778:10.1038/s41467-022-31846-8
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474:10.1126/science.aad9189
298:suggests this is true.
1065:Trans-Neptunian object
549:(7627): 65–68 (2016).
242:
758:Nature Communications
497:"Charon Nomenclature"
236:
193:The Lord of the Rings
705:10.1029/2021GL097580
287:orbital eccentricity
220:, the largest-known
190:in J.R.R. Tolkien's
770:2022NatCo..13.4457M
697:2022GeoRL..4997580T
641:2020tnss.book..291G
608:2021Icar..36714574F
573:10.1038/nature19340
565:2016Natur.539...65G
528:2021AGUFM.P45C2449M
465:2016Sci...351.9189G
371:2018Icar..315..124S
307:Kuiper belt objects
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279:Pluto's atmosphere
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225:local topography.
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658:978-0-12-816490-7
485:. aad9189 (2016).
449:(6279): aad9189.
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113:Tolkien mythology
16:(Redirected from
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1085:In mythology
916:Kubrick Mons
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735:. Retrieved
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662:. Retrieved
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420:. Retrieved
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303:cryovolcanic
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277:escape from
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222:impact basin
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89:New Horizons
87:
54:Feature type
29:
1060:Kuiper belt
764:(1): 4457.
365:: 124–145.
295:sublimation
176:475 km
78:375 km
57:Dark region
1090:In fiction
556:1903.03724
456:1604.05368
334:References
291:axial tilt
99:Unofficial
84:Discoverer
1022:Discovery
1015:Astronomy
973:Nasreddin
909:Mountains
885:Gallifrey
865:Geography
786:2041-1723
713:0094-8276
618:. 114574.
395:125833113
387:0019-1035
314:Charon's
200:Geography
1105:Category
869:features
804:35945207
737:10 April
581:27626378
483:26989260
322:See also
271:nitrogen
210:Oz Terra
107:Land of
73:Diameter
62:Location
1078:Related
1043:General
963:Dorothy
956:Craters
878:Regions
856:Geology
795:9363412
766:Bibcode
693:Bibcode
637:Bibcode
604:Bibcode
561:Bibcode
524:Bibcode
461:Bibcode
443:Science
422:17 July
367:Bibcode
283:tholins
275:methane
255:tholins
229:Geology
218:Dorothy
111:, from
46:Dorothy
988:Ripley
978:Organa
925:Chasms
900:Vulcan
890:Mordor
845:Charon
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596:Icarus
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543:Nature
481:
393:
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359:Icarus
261:Origin
239:Charon
206:Charon
188:Mordor
180:Charon
109:Mordor
104:Eponym
96:Naming
67:Charon
993:Vader
691:(8).
664:9 May
551:arXiv
500:(PDF)
451:arXiv
391:S2CID
267:Pluto
184:Pluto
1034:NOFS
983:Pirx
968:Kirk
800:PMID
782:ISSN
739:2020
709:ISSN
666:2024
653:ISBN
577:PMID
479:PMID
424:2015
383:ISSN
289:and
273:and
790:PMC
774:doi
701:doi
645:doi
612:doi
600:367
569:doi
547:539
469:doi
447:351
375:doi
363:315
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