DYNAMICAL AND OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON SATELLITES IN THE INNER PLUTO CHARON SYSTEM

It is not known if Pluto has other satellites besides its massive part ner Charon. In the past, searches for additional satellites in the Plu to-Charon system have extended from the solar-tidal stability boundary (almost-equal-to 90 arcsec from Pluto) inward to about 1 arcsec from Pluto. Here we further explore the inner (i.e., <10 arcsec) region of the Pluto-Charon system to determine where additional satellites might lie. In particular, we report on (i) dynamical simulations to delinea te the region where unstable orbits lie around Charon, (ii) dynamical simulations which use the low orbital eccentricity of Charon to constr ain the mass of any third body near Pluto, and (iii) analysis of HST a rchival images to search for satellites in the inner Pluto-Charon syst em. Although no objects were found, significant new constraints on bod ies orbiting in the inner Pluto-Charon system were obtained. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.