Hubble Spots New Moon Orbiting Pluto

[adz]

Hubble Spots New Moon Orbiting Pluto

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a new moon orbiting the icy planet Pluto. Designated S/2011 (134340) 1 by the International Astronomical Union — but nicknamed P4 — the newcomer orbits Pluto every 32 days at a distance of about 37,000 miles (59,000 km). This puts it between the paths of Nix and Hydra, two moons found circling Pluto in 2005.

 

[odin]

That's not planet..er..moon..er. Dwarf planet, yeah, that's what we'll call it. A dwarf planet with wee little dwarf moons.

 

[cecilia]

weeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[redrumloa]

Sweet!

 

[adz]

Not the most exciting news ever, but a while back I mentioned that I'd start posting some Astronomy stuff and this is the most exciting development I've come across to date bar the retirement or the shuttle and the launch of Spektr-R, but you'd have to be living under a rock not to know about those

 

[minator]

That's no moon...

 

[metalman]

Not the most exciting news ever, but a while back I mentioned that I'd start posting some Astronomy stuff and this is the most exciting development I've come across to date bar the retirement or the shuttle and the launch of Spektr-R, but you'd have to be living under a rock not to know about those

Astronomy News

 

[cybereye]

That an impressive gravity that Pluto holding all that rocks or ice.

 

[Karlos]

That an impressive gravity that Pluto holding all that rocks or ice.

Gravity acts on mass no matter how small, though at smaller sizes, other forces (magnetism, electrostatic etc) completely overshadow it. It is the combined mass of the whole pluto system that holds it together. After all, the satellites attract Pluto as much as it does them.

With Pluto being so small in relation to it's satellites, then it's probably fair to call it a cluster rather than a (minor) planet / moon system. After all, the barycentre for the Plutonian system lies above it's surface. Therefore, none of the bodies in the system orbit a point "inside" the volume of Pluto.

 

[Robert]

How big is the new moon compared to Pluto?

 

[adz]

Assuming that its reflectivity is the same as Charon's (35%), then P4 would measure only 9 miles (14 km) across; if it's much darker, it could be as large as 25 miles (40 km). Either way, it's small in comparison to Charon, which is 750 miles (1,210 km) in diameter.

Pluto has a mean radius of 1161km so it's quite small by comparison.

 

[Robert]

Assuming that its reflectivity is the same as Charon's (35%), then P4 would measure only 9 miles (14 km) across; if it's much darker, it could be as large as 25 miles (40 km). Either way, it's small in comparison to Charon, which is 750 miles (1,210 km) in diameter.

Pluto has a mean radius of 1161km so it's quite small by comparison.

Thank you.

 

[Karlos]

I wouldn't be surprised to find this "cluster" like arrangement for Sedna and other suspect trans-neptuinan objects.

 

[cybereye]

Gravity acts on mass no matter how small, though at smaller sizes, other forces (magnetism, electrostatic etc) completely overshadow it. It is the combined mass of the whole pluto system that holds it together. After all, the satellites attract Pluto as much as it does them.

With Pluto being so small in relation to it's satellites, then it's probably fair to call it a cluster rather than a (minor) planet / moon system. After all, the barycentre for the Plutonian system lies above it's surface. Therefore, none of the bodies in the system orbit a point "inside" the volume of Pluto.

That is a good point. I guess that farther from the sun the more cluster system become.

 

[cecilia]

they should have said, "tiny pebble spotted around Dwarf Planet"