Sage-Tips

Which moon is the smallest of Pluto?

Styx
Styx is a small natural satellite of Pluto whose discovery was announced on 11 July 2012. It was discovered by use of the Hubble Space Telescope. As of 2020, it is the smallest known moon of Pluto.

What is the only moon in Pluto?

The known moons of Pluto are: Charon: Discovered in 1978, this small moon is almost half the size of Pluto. It is so big Pluto and Charon are sometimes referred to as a double planet system. Nix and Hydra: These small moons were found in 2005 by a Hubble Space Telescope team studying the Pluto system.

What are the moons of Pluto?

Charon
KerberosNixHydraStyx
Pluto/Moons

Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, in a photograph taken by the New Horizons spacecraft, July 11, 2015. Chasms, impact craters, and the dark north pole can be seen in this image. Pluto’s other four moons—Hydra, Nix, Kerberos, and Styx—are much smaller than Charon.

Does Pluto have 2 moons?

In 2005, as scientists photographed Pluto with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in preparation for the New Horizons mission — the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt — they discovered two other tiny moons of Pluto, now dubbed Nix and Hydra. These are two to three times farther away from Pluto than Charon.

Is Pluto’s moon bigger than Pluto?

Charon is almost half the size of Pluto. The little moon is so big that Pluto and Charon are sometimes referred to as a double dwarf planet system. The distance between them is 19,640 km (12,200 miles).

What is Pluto’s second biggest moon?

Hydra
Hydra is a natural satellite of Pluto, with a diameter of approximately 51 km (32 mi) across its longest dimension. It is the second-largest moon of Pluto, being slightly larger than Nix.

What are the sizes of Pluto’s moons?

They have nearly circular prograde orbits in the same orbital plane as Charon. All are much smaller than Charon. Nix and Hydra, the two larger, are roughly 42 and 55 kilometers on their longest axis respectively, and Styx and Kerberos are 7 and 12 kilometers respectively.

What is Eris moon called?

Dysnomia
Eris/Moons
Eris has a very small moon called Dysnomia. Dysnomia has a nearly circular orbit lasting about 16 days. This moon is named after Eris’ daughter, the demon goddess of lawlessness. Dysnomia and other small moons around planets and dwarf planets allow astronomers to calculate the mass of the parent body.