Pluto has new moons named Nix and Hydra

[superluminal]

link<br /><br />LOS ANGELES - Meet the newest kids in the solar system: Nix and Hydra. The pair of moons orbiting Pluto were officially christened last week by the International Astronomical Union, which is in charge of approving celestial names. <br /><br />The article doesn't say much about the properties of these moons.<br /><br />here's a better link that does.<br /><br /><br /><br />http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/01nov_moonsofpluto.htm<br /> <br />It seems the moons are small and in a circular orbit twice as far as Charon.<br /><br />I think it's amazing that they have been discovered 3 billion miles away.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2005-10-31-pluto-moons_x.htm<br /><br /><i>edit; fixed your link so it doesn't stretch the thread</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Columbia and Challenger </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Starships of Heroes</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

If authentic ,news is important.I find in no other channel

 

[vonster]

Since the Kupier belt is literally full of objects that size, its not that suprising Pluto - or any other bodies out there for that matter - would have multiple satellites<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I think it's amazing that they have been discovered 3 billion miles away.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Yes, it is.<br /><br />.

 

[superluminal]

Hello alokmohan<br /><br />It's definitely authentic.<br /><br />In a search, type in (Pluto moons). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Columbia and Challenger </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Starships of Heroes</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[superluminal]

Since the Kupier belt is literally full of objects that size, its not that suprising Pluto - or any other bodies out there for that matter - would have multiple satellites <br /><br />I agree...<br />What's surprising to me is their circular orbit <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><br /><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Columbia and Challenger </font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="3" color="#3366ff">Starships of Heroes</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Are there any updates to the sizes of Nix (about 50 KM diameter) & Hydra (about 160 KM diameter)?? <br />Cannot wait for New Horizons to get there, this is going to be a fascinating system.<br /><br />The below article was from Spaceflightnow.com: Friday 23rd June 2006.<br /><br />Pluto doesn't reveal its moons easily," adds team co-leader and New Horizons Project Scientist Dr. Hal Weaver of APL. "It took 48 years after the discovery of Pluto to find Charon and another 27 years to find Nix and Hydra. Perhaps we won't have to wait as long for the next discovery because the New Horizons spacecraft will be making a rendezvous with Pluto in nine years and will be searching for other small satellites." <br />Nix and Hydra, roughly 5,000 times fainter than Pluto itself, are about two to three times as far from Pluto as its large moon, Charon, which was discovered in 1978. The nine-member discovery team selected the name Nyx for S/2005 P 2, the inner small satellite, and the name Hydra for S/2005 P 1, the outer small satellite. Because asteroid 3908 already bears the Greek name Nyx, the IAU changed Nyx to its Egyptian equivalent, Nix. <br />In mythology, Nix is the goddess of darkness and night, befitting a satellite orbiting distant Pluto, the god of the underworld. Nix is also the mother of Charon, relevant to the giant impact believed to have created Pluto's three satellites, indicating Charon was borne of the material from which Nix formed. Hydra is the terrifying monster with the body of a serpent and nine heads, befitting the outermost moon of Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system. <br />In addition, just as Pluto's name begins with the letters "P" and "L" to honor Percival Lowell, who motivated the search that led to its discovery, Nix and Hydra honor the search for new satellites and the New Horizons mission to Pluto by starting with the letters "N" and "H." The first letter of Hydra also honors the Hubble Space Telescope that was used to detect the satellites. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

This did not attach. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>