Lots of folks got very up in arms when Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status, so perhaps they'll be comforted in the knowledge that the not-planet has even more company out in the depths of space than we previously realized.A fourth moon, currently named P4, was recently discovered in orbit around Pluto, along with its larger and better monikered siblings Charon, Hydra and Nix. Photos are courtesy of the Hubble, naturally.
Somebody dust off an ancient mythology book and find this little guy a cool sounding name, pronto!
I wonder if this discovery will have any impact on the proposed cutting of funds for the James Webb Space Telescope. We just discovered a new moon orbiting Pluto with a telescope that has almost reached its limits. Imagine what we would see with the next generation of telescopes.
ReplyDeleteBETTER YET, sell it to a billionare to raise money for NASA. Pluto, Charon, Nix, Hydra, and KochBros.
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