Jun 23 2006
From The Space Library
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced the official naming of Pluto’s newest small moons—Nix and Hydra, names from Greek mythology. The HST had discovered Nix and Hydra, previously known as S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2, in May 2005. The two moons are approximately 5,000 times fainter than Pluto and approximately two to three times farther from Pluto than its larger moon Charon, discovered in 1978. The first initials of the two moons—N and H—are the same as the initials of the NASA spacecraft New Horizons, which launched in January 2006 toward the Pluto system. Scientists expected that New Horizons would map Nix and Hydra in detail when the spacecraft flew by Pluto in summer 2015.
Kenneth Chang, “Moons of Pluto Renamed,” New York Times, 23 June 2006; NASA, “Pluto and Its Moons: Charon, Nix and Hydra,” 23 June 2006, http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/plutos_moons_prt.htm (accessed 23 August 2010).
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