Hubble Confirms New Moons of Pluto

Posted by Jay-qu
21 February, 2006 04:02:11

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Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of two new moons around the distant planet Pluto. The moons were first discovered by Hubble in May 2005, but the Pluto Companion Search team probed even deeper into the Pluto system with Hubble on Feb. 15 to look for additional satellites and to characterize the orbits of the moons. In the image, Pluto is in the center and Charon is just below it. The moons, provisionally designated S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2, are located to the right of Pluto and Charon.

Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the HST Pluto Companion Search Team

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Comments (10 posted):

Turtle on 21 February, 2006 11:23:30

___Sweet Jayqu! :phones: They even had this on Headline News, & they have so few astronomy stories. I wonder if there'll be a contest to name these new satellites now? :shrug:

InfiniteNow on 21 February, 2006 11:26:07

They've already chosen names... Goofy and Donald... ;)

Jay-qu on 22 February, 2006 05:33:05

They've already chosen names... Goofy and Donald... ;) I believe pluto is Micky's dog...

Turtle on 22 February, 2006 07:09:56

How 'bout Mickey & Minny? Then we can pay Disney a royalty every time we discuss them?:hyper: Seriously though, this is not the Disney Pluto; it's an ancient god's name.

Jay-qu on 22 February, 2006 08:44:23

lol yes turtle, I was just making fun :D

Boerseun on 22 February, 2006 09:06:34

I'll settle for George and Stanley.

TheBigDog on 24 February, 2006 01:55:52

How about "Dude!" and "Sweet!"

Eclogite on 06 March, 2006 12:37:44

How 'bout Mickey & Minny? Then we can pay Disney a royalty every time we discuss them?:hyper: Seriously though, this is not the Disney Pluto; it's an ancient god's name.However, Pluto [the planet] was discovered in 1930, and Pluto [the dog] was first named in a Disney cartoon in 1931, so it is reasonable to assume one was named after the other. Perhaps these two moons represent an opportunity to reverse the process: I suggest they be called Wallace and Grommit.

Tormod on 06 March, 2006 01:35:04

Perhaps these two moons represent an opportunity to reverse the process: I suggest they be called Wallace and Grommit. Yeah! Excellent suggestion! :D