Talk:Solar eclipses on Pluto
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Duration is dubious
edit- The maximum duration of any solar eclipse during this period is about 4 minutes 21 seconds.
This figure is incorrect. Although I cannot provide accurate corrections, my investigations using Celestia suggest that the maximum duration of a solar eclipse on Pluto (where Charon eclipses the sun) is about 91 minutes, not 4. From the surface of Pluto, Charon subtends an angle of about 3 degrees 40 minutes. The day length of Pluto and Charon is about 6.387 days. The length of time that Charon can cover the sun is 3+2⁄3 / 360 * 6.387 days, or 0.0651 days, which is 93.7 minutes. -- B.D.Mills (T, C) 06:50, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
- I have corrected the duration in the article based on these calculations, but left the dubious tag in place so that attention is drawn to the inaccuracy. While I do not feel comfortable about using these calculations in the article, it's far better to substitute a figure that is roughly correct than leave in the article a figure that is wildly inaccurate. -- B.D.Mills (T, C) 06:54, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
I looked at Celestia. The original poster should have said, "At maximum it would take up to 4 hours and 21 minutes for the shadow of Charon to cross from one end of Pluto to the other." -- Kheider (talk) 23:41, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
One hemisphere only?
editIs it worthy to mention in the article that only one hemisphere of Pluto will ever see solar eclipses caused by Charon (either the entire planet, or only thin zones, would see Nix or Hydra cause a solar eclipse), while the other will only ever see "lunar" ("Charonal"?) eclipses? Since Pluto's rotation is synchronized to Charon's revolution, Charon never moves position in the planet's sky... pardon me, the dwarf planet's sky. GBC (talk) 06:20, 22 June 2010 (UTC)
- Pluto is tidally locked to Charon, so the hemisphere that can see solar eclipses is the same hemisphere that can see Charonian (see adjective) eclipses. Ζετα ζ (talk) 21:29, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
Fifth moon
editThis page needs to be revised now that a fifth moon of Pluto, S/2012 P 1 has been discovered. But, I don't know whether its position means it can be the cause of solar eclipses.
Merged
editDeleted the images as obvious garbage (Charon is not visible from Sputnik Planum, so the eclipse shadow cannot occur there). Then there were other dubious or obviously nonsensical (and unref'd) claims; after that there wasn't much left, so I merged with the moons article. Not sure that everything that remains is correct, though. — kwami (talk) 20:12, 2 December 2015 (UTC)