Two new
moons circling that distant planet Pluto have nabbed names of their own, Nix
and Hydra.
The
International Astronomical Union officially announced the names for Pluto’s new moons,
which were discovered last year, today, though reports of
the christening appeared earlier this week.
Circling the
Sun in an elliptical orbit at the edge of the Solar System, Pluto now carries
three known moons. Charon,
the largest and longest known, Nix and Hydra are thought to have been carved from
Pluto’s surface during a cataclysmic impact.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/Space Telescope Science
Institute (STScI)
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