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2 more moons orbiting Pluto

A Hubble Space Telescope image released yesterday confirms the existence of two more moons orbiting Pluto, making a total of three.

The new picture, captured on February 15, shows S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2—catchier names will come later—faintly glowing in the starlike shine of Pluto and its other moon, Charon.

Astronomers led by astrophysicist Hal Weaver of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, estimate that P 1 is 38 miles (61 kilometers) in diameter, versus P 2’s 29 miles (47 kilometers).

The newfound moons orbit on the same plane as Charon. This suggests that all three moons were born from a cataclysmic collision of two Pluto-size objects millions of years ago, the researchers write in a report in today’s issue of the journal Nature.

posted by: kyawoo at 19:07 | link | comments |
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