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Artist’s Illustration of Pluto’s Satellites
This artist's illustration shows the scale and comparative brightness of Pluto's small satellites, as discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope over the past several years. Pluto's binary companion, Charon (discovered in 1978), is placed at the bottom for scale. Two of the moons are highly oblate. The reflectivity among the moons varies from dark charcoal to the brightness of white sand. Hubble cannot resolve surface features on the moons and so the cratered textures seen here are purely for illustration purposes.
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.Data of the minor moons of Pluto were obtained from various HST proposals, including 12436: M. Showalter (SETI Institute) and D. Hamilton (University of Maryland, College Park), who also comprise the science team for this release. Object Name: Styx Discovery Year: 2012 Semi-major axis (in km): 42,700 Period (in days): 20.2 Object Name: Nix Discovery Year: 2005 Semi-major axis (in km): 48,700 Period (in days): 24.9 Object Name: Kerberos Discovery Year: 2011 Semi-major axis (in km): 57,800 Period (in days): 32.2 Object Name: Hydra Discovery Year: 2005 Semi-major axis (in km): 64,800 Period (in days): 38.2 - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.WFC3/UVIS
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.April 27, 2013
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.F606W (V)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, Styx, Charon
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Minor Moons of the Pluto-Charon System
- Release DateJune 3, 2015
- Science ReleaseHubble Finds Two Chaotically Tumbling Pluto Moons
- Credit
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Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media
Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
