Pluto has 2 more moons

Solauren · Post by **Solauren** » 2006-02-23 07:24am

Three's a crowd: Two more moons for Pluto

PARIS (AFP) - Pluto, the most distant recognized planet of the Solar System, has two tiny satellites in addition to Charon, the moon which was discovered in 1978.

US astronomers used the orbiting Hubble telescope to spot the moonlets, which have been labelled S/2005 P1 and and S/2005 P2 until formal names are approved after the International Astronomical Union (IAU) vets the find.

P1 and P2 appear to measure between 48 kilometers (30 miles) and 165 kms (103 miles) across and take 38 and 25 days respectively to orbit Pluto, according to their paper, published on Thursday in Nature, the weekly British science journal.

Pluto, discovered in 1930 by the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, is the outermost of the acknowledged planets, although a new contender for that title emerged last year in the form of an object called 2003 UB313.

Last month, astronomers made their most accurate measurement of the elusive Charon, estimating it to have a diameter of around 1,212 kms (757.5 miles), making it about half the size of Pluto's 2,300 kms (1,437 miles).

Charon's density is also very similar to that of Pluto's, which appears to back theories that the planet whacked into a large space object, causing a large chunk to break off and eventually be enslaved as a satellite.

P1 and P2 may have resulted from the same collision, says Alan Stern of the US Southwest Research Institute, in a review of the latest discovery, whose lead author is Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland.

Weaver's team tentatively announced the discovery of the two moons last November after a nearly six-month analysis of images sent back by the Hubble.

wautd · Post by **wautd** » 2006-02-23 07:32am

Just read in the newspaper it probably has rings as well

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2006-02-23 10:10am

You know Pluto's just trying to stay classified as a planet

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-02-23 02:01pm

LadyTevar wrote:You know Pluto's just trying to stay classified as a planet

Its trying too hard. What's next, pluto? A magnetic field? Life? Methinks some planet doth protest too much.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2006-02-23 03:17pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:You know Pluto's just trying to stay classified as a planet
Its trying too hard. What's next, pluto? A magnetic field? Life? Methinks some planet doth protest too much.

Well, after 50 yrs of being a planet, the fear of being reclassified as 'just another KBO' is enough to make a planet do outrageous things to keep his status

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2006-02-23 05:56pm

Hold on to its planet status? It can't even hold on to its atmosphere.

Glorified comet.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2006-02-23 06:26pm

Pluto will be married to an American celebrity. That will get it its green card and there is no way that we are going to call a US Citizen just another KBO.

Unfortunely, the wedding will end in tragedy when the Sun's gift of solar wind to the happy couple causes Pluto's outer surface to boil off.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-02-23 06:38pm

In other news today, Pluto will next be appearing on an episode of Fear Factor, where it will be competing with its fiance Lindsay Lohen.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2006-02-23 06:46pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:In other news today, Pluto will next be appearing on an episode of Fear Factor, where it will be competing with its fiance Lindsay Lohen.

Pluto would kick so much ass on Celebrity Partners Fear Factor. It has absolutely no problem drinking a pitcher of pureed cockroaches and its gravity would surely be the stimga of all those balance events. Fear is not a factor when you emit about twice as much methane into the general environment around you on a hot day than Joe Rogan.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2006-02-24 12:29pm

It's not fooling anyone, you know....

Stile · Post by **Stile** » 2006-02-24 02:24pm

LadyTevar wrote:It's not fooling anyone, you know....

Did the comb over tip everyone off??