Pluto's moons: list. What are the moons of Pluto?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:45

Pluto is a tiny planet in the solar system. It was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh from the USA back in 1930. Subsequently, the satellites of Pluto were also discovered and studied. The average distance from the planet to the Sun is just under 40 AU

Pluto is a 15th magnitude. This means that it is 4000 times fainter than stars that are visible to the naked eye. This celestial body rotates extremely slowly and makes one revolution in orbit for 247.7 years. Pluto comes closer to the Sun than Neptune. However, the planet is still quite far away, making it extremely difficult to study.

How Pluto got its name

The right to come up with a name for the new planet went to the director of the Lovell Observatory V. M. Slifer. Initially, his widow suggested naming the discovery "Zeus" and then "Lovvel" and ultimately his own name "Constance", but neither of these options was approved. Traditionally, the planets were named after Roman gods, with "Pluto" being the most appropriate for this discovery, and the name was reminiscent of the initials of the director of the observatory.

Actuallythere were many more proposals with names for the new planet. For example, the editors of the most popular New York Times newspaper suggested calling the discovery "Minerva", but, as in the case of the planet Uranus, this idea was rejected. Names were also proposed: Athena, Vulcan, Artemis, Zimal, Icarus, Cosmos, Atlas, Hera, Tantalus, Perseus, Pax, Odin, Persephone, Cronus, Idana, Prometheus, etc. But neither the satellites of Pluto, nor the planet itself received them.

The fact is that most of these names have already been used for asteroids.

Interesting fact

One couple even suggested naming a planet after their newly born child. But in the end, the discovery got its current name thanks to 11-year-old girl Venetia Bernie from Oxford. During breakfast, her grandfather, who at the time worked as a librarian at Oxford University, read a newspaper that told about the discovery. He asked his granddaughter what she thought the newly discovered planet should be called.

The girl said that since the celestial body is located very far and its surface is very cold, it would be appropriate to name it after the Roman god of the underworld Pluto. The elderly librarian was inspired by this idea and sent the proposal by telegraph to his colleagues in the United States, after which the name was unanimously accepted and approved on May 1, 1930.

Does Pluto have moons

Like most planets, Pluto is accompanied by satellites. The most interesting and unusual is Charon. There are also two moresmall satellites - Hydra and Nyx (Nikta). And two very tiny brothers, who today have only serial numbers.

Charon

The moons of the planet Pluto are amazing in their characteristics, but the most mysterious of them is Charon. He is very remarkable precisely for his origin. The fact is that until 2005 it was the only satellite of a small planet. Later, scientists managed to detect two more small bodies that also revolved around Pluto. Charon was located at a distance of more than 20,000 km from the planet, and its mass at the time of discovery was 1.9 sextillion kilograms.

History

Small satellites of Pluto were discovered relatively recently, but Charon attracted the attention of astronomers back in 1978. Since its discovery, it has been believed that the planet has only one celestial body in its orbit.

All in the same 1978, specialists studied images of Pluto. Upon closer examination, scientists noticed a small "bulge" located in front of the disk of the planet.

Pluto-Charon

This system is called so because of the common properties of the satellite and the planet. According to one hypothesis, both objects of the solar system arose simultaneously at the time of the collision and their independent formation. That is, Charon is essentially a fragment of Pluto. Thus, it is possible to assume that Nikta and Gadra are also particles of the planet. The origin of small satellites is still a scientific mystery.

Interesting phenomenon

BIn 1985-1990, Pluto and Charon entered the eclipse stage, at which time it was possible to observe the orbits of the satellite and the planet itself from the earth. This is one of the rarest occurrences, occurring only twice in Pluto's 248-year orbit around the Sun. Fortunately, in the late 80s, the attention of scientists was literally riveted to Pluto, so they were able to fix the exact dimensions of the satellite. And, unfortunately, next time it will take a long time to see this and fix all the indicators.

Charon Characteristics

Due to its remoteness from the star, the surface of Charon is very cold, and its temperature is 220 degrees below zero. Not surprisingly, the satellite is completely covered with a thick layer of ice. This fact gives rise to even more questions and conjectures of scientists, including regarding the origin of the celestial body. There is a theory that the satellite has geological activity, due to which water can form on its surface. Even in spite of such low temperatures. This is confirmed by the fact that ammonia hydrates were found on the surface of Charon, which should have undergone complete decay from solar activity.

Of course, this is still just a guess, but the data obtained indicates that Charon holds many secrets that have yet to be discovered.

Forecasts

Astronomers and other scientists are extremely interested in a more detailed consideration of the question of what satellites Pluto has and what is their origin, and in particular, of course, Charon. For this reason, in 2015It is planned to start a series of studies dedicated to this particular planet and its satellites this year.

It is noteworthy that Charon rotates simultaneously with the planet, so they are always directed towards each other on the same side. All these facts simply could not but arouse the interest of the scientific community.

Small moons of Pluto

The smaller brothers of Charon were also discovered relatively recently, in 2005. They were two small satellites P1 "Hydra" and P2 "Nikta". Their diameter was only 45-55 km.

In 2011 the 4th satellite of Pluto was found - P4. Its diameter is 13-33 km at all. In the end, in 2012, the "satellite family" was replenished with another discovered baby P5. Its diameter is only 10-25 km. As you can see, the small satellites of Pluto, the list of which is being replenished, have not yet received names. But there are already reports that P4 and P5 will be given the nicknames Vulcan and Cerberus. These are the names with the highest scores in the online poll conducted by the SETI Institute.

Summarize

Thus, at the time of the latest research (in 2013), 5 celestial bodies were known that are satellites of Pluto. In fact, it is assumed that there are many more of them, just smaller bodies are safely hidden from the eyes of scientists. But if we believe the theory that more fragments could have broken off during the formation of the planet, more discoveries await us in the near future.

Pluto's moons, whose names are still under approval, will be studied, as welllike the mysterious Charon. There are quite interesting hypotheses and conjectures that have not yet been confirmed by serious evidence or facts.

Thanks to modern technologies and fairly clear images, specialists can not only characterize satellites, but also simulate the process of their formation. This allows us to answer many questions, but also creates a number of new and more interesting mysteries for humanity, which is so eager to look into the Universe.