Moons of Pluto

Image taken from the Hubble Telescope showing Pluto and its three largest moons.

The moons of Pluto are moons which orbit the dwarf planet Pluto. There are five moons orbiting the dwarf planet in total. The first one discovered was Charon which is near one quarter the size of Pluto. Charon was also sometimes considered a double dwarf planet. The second was Nix, the third was Hydra, the fourth moon was Kerberos, and the fifth moon to be discovered was Styx.

History[change | change source]

Similar sizes of the Objects in the Plutonian system.

The first and largest moon discovered orbiting around Pluto was Charon, Charon was discovered on June 22 1978 by James Christy. In May 2005, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered two smaller moons which were named Nix and Hydra. ^[1] Two even smaller moons named Kerberos and Styx were discovered in 2011 and 2012. ^[2] ^[3]

References[change | change source]

↑ "Planetary Names: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2013-01-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ Science, Mike Wall 2012-07-11T15:06:47Z; Astronomy. "Pluto Has a Fifth Moon, Hubble Telescope Reveals". Space.com.

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[1] "Planetary Names: Planet and Satellite Names and Discoverers". planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov.

[2] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2013-01-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[3] Science, Mike Wall 2012-07-11T15:06:47Z; Astronomy. "Pluto Has a Fifth Moon, Hubble Telescope Reveals". Space.com.

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v t e The Solar System

Sun • Heliosphere	Planets ☾ = moon(s) ∅ = rings		Mercury	Venus	Earth ☾	Mars ☾

			Jupiter ☾ ∅	Saturn ☾ ∅	Uranus ☾ ∅	Neptune ☾ ∅

	Dwarf planets		Ceres	Pluto ☾	Haumea ☾ ∅	Makemake ☾

			Eris ☾	225088 Gonggong ☾

	Small Solar System bodies	Asteroids (minor planets)	Groups and families: Vulcanoids · Near-Earth asteroids · Asteroid belt Jupiter Trojans · Centaurs · Neptune Trojans · Asteroid moons · Meteoroids · Pallas · Juno · Vesta · Hygiea · Interamnia · Europa
		Asteroids (minor planets)	See also the list of asteroids.

		Trans- Neptunians	Kuiper belt – Plutinos: Orcus · Ixion – Cubewanos: Varuna · Quaoar · Huya
		Trans- Neptunians	Scattered disc: Sedna

		Comets	Periodic comets and non-periodic comets Damocloids · Oort cloud
See also the list of solar system objects

Moons of Pluto

History[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

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