Pluto and Charon's poles face the same direction meaning they experience the same degree of exposure to Sun light.
At 30 degrees above and below the equator (area between the blue lines) of Pluto, the temperature is supposed to maintain a really cold rather consistent temperature setting up the conditions for cold trapping at SP. This, along with the low elevation, is NASA scientist's explanation for why the nitrogen/methane ices have accumulated at SP. The poles, however, are supposed to swing more wildly. This wild swing into cold is supposed to be the cause of the methane snow while its subsequent swing into hot seasonal weather removes the snow. |
Since Charon's pole alignment is the same as Pluto's it should experience the same temperature conditions.
Consistently colder conditions creating cold trapping from 30 degrees north to south of the equator and hot and cold swings at the poles. So how does cold trapping explain SP at 25 degrees above and below the equator on Pluto while cold trapping is also used to explain the tholin at the north pole of Charon. Charon is supposed to be snowed on by Pluto's atmosphere but that snow doesn't build up from the equator to 30 degrees above and below on Charon like it theoretically does on Pluto. Mordor is supposed to have been colored by Pluto's tholin as the result of cold trapping but cold trapping is used to explain what we see at SP near the equator of Pluto. |
Vulcan Planum on Charon is a 2 mile deep basin relative to the raised ridge that separates the north from south hemisphere similar to the 2 mile deep basin at Sputnik Planitia on Pluto. If methane/nitrogen snow has been accumulating at SP for millions of years such that it has built up to 2 to 4 miles deep and Pluto's atmosphere is supposed to be depositing this same material over to Charon which is "painting Mordor red" why isn't this snow accumulating at the lower elevation of Vulcan Planum which resides within the 30 degrees N and S latitudes similar to SP.
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These few images show how Vulcan Planum is a low lying plain relative to the elevated terrain to the North. Take note especially of the purple area's which are really deep compared to the rest of the surface. Wouldn't these purple area's be particularly filled with an accumulation of snow if the prevailing theory about SP (atmospheric snow built up the ices in the SP basin) were correct? |