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NASA's Hubble Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto
http://www.newswise.com ^
| 7/20/2011 9:00 AM EDT
| Staff
Posted on 07/20/2011 8:14:18 AM PDT by Red Badger
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PLUTO'S MOON SYSTEM These two images, taken about a week apart by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, show four moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. The green circle in both snapshots marks the newly discovered moon, temporarily dubbed P4, found by Hubble in June. P4 is the smallest moon yet found around Pluto, with an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Pluto's largest moon Charon is 648 miles (1,043 km) across. Nix and Hydra are roughly 20 to 70 miles (32 to 113 km) wide. The new moon lies between the orbits of Nix and Hydra, two satellites discovered by Hubble in 2005. It completes an orbit around Pluto roughly every 31 days. The moon was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28, 2011. The sighting was confirmed in follow-up Hubble observations taken July 3 and July 18. P4, Nix, and Hydra are so small and so faint that scientists combined short and long exposures to create this image of Pluto and its entire moon system. The speckled background is camera "noise" produced during the long exposures. The linear features are imaging artifacts. The tiny satellite was uncovered in a Hubble survey to search for rings around the frigid dwarf planet. The observations will help NASA's New Horizons mission, scheduled to fly through the Pluto system in 2015.
To: SunkenCiv; KevinDavis
2
posted on
07/20/2011 8:14:58 AM PDT
by
Red Badger
(PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
To: Red Badger
8 mile diameter? You could hold a marathon around it.
To: Red Badger
How can this non-planet have a moon, none the less four?!
4
posted on
07/20/2011 8:23:18 AM PDT
by
edge10
(Obama lied, babies died!)
To: Red Badger
Doesn’t matter, it’s not a planet remember? Nothing to see here folks, move along, move along.
To: Red Badger
They also discovered another moon around Uranus.
6
posted on
07/20/2011 8:24:32 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: Larry Lucido
"8 mile diameter? You could hold a marathon around it."
Just think about the length of each step. I wonder what EV is?
7
posted on
07/20/2011 8:26:25 AM PDT
by
Truth29
To: Red Badger
I move to reinstate Pluto to the rank of the planet!
To: dfwgator
Planet advocates smell blood in the water.
9
posted on
07/20/2011 8:26:58 AM PDT
by
ZX12R
To: Red Badger
Anybody remember “The Little Prince” TV show? 8 to 21 miles in diameter isn’t much. Perhaps there’s a little French boy there gardening his rose and tending to the volcanoes?
10
posted on
07/20/2011 8:27:02 AM PDT
by
rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
To: Larry Lucido
P4 needs a name. Maybe “Flea”? I saw several cartoons in which Pluto had fleas.
11
posted on
07/20/2011 8:27:04 AM PDT
by
Pecos
(Constitutionalist. Liberty and Honor will not die on my watch.)
To: Pecos
Scratch that...............
12
posted on
07/20/2011 8:29:23 AM PDT
by
Red Badger
(PEAS in our time? Obama cries PEAS! PEAS! when there is no PEAS!..........................)
To: dfwgator
They also discovered another moon around Uranus. I'm seeing a doctor about that... :0)
13
posted on
07/20/2011 8:33:04 AM PDT
by
COBOL2Java
(Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
To: Red Badger
At least it’s not a spot around Uranus : )
To: Pecos
P4 needs a name. Maybe “Flea”? I think he'd be honored!
15
posted on
07/20/2011 8:35:13 AM PDT
by
COBOL2Java
(Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
To: Fractal Trader
"I have sent a communication to NASA that the moon shall be named OBAMA, unless they want their funding cut even further..."
16
posted on
07/20/2011 8:36:23 AM PDT
by
BigEdLB
(Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
To: rarestia
I always wondered how he didn’t manage to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere riding a meteorite using nothing but a butterfly net.
But then again they likely didn’t have the budget to hire a NASA consultant. :^P
17
posted on
07/20/2011 8:44:01 AM PDT
by
VanDeKoik
(1 million in stimulus dollars paid for this tagline!)
To: All
18
posted on
07/20/2011 8:48:05 AM PDT
by
DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis
(Want to make $$$? It's easy! Use FR as a platform to pimp your blog for hits!!!)
To: VanDeKoik
One of those high-tensile carbon fiber butterfly nets, I’d guess.
19
posted on
07/20/2011 8:48:43 AM PDT
by
rarestia
(It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
To: COBOL2Java
I'm seeing a doctor about that... :0)
"Not only do ju have rings around ur anus, but ju also have a giant red spot on ju piter."
20
posted on
07/20/2011 8:55:44 AM PDT
by
Maceman
(Obama: As American as nasei goreng)
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