[AZ-Observing] Pluto's newly found moons named Nix, Hydra

Content-Type: text/plain;
        charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable



Pluto's newly found moons named Nix, Hydra

LOS ANGELES - Meet the newest kids in the solar system: Nix and Hydra. =
The pair of moons orbiting Pluto were officially christened last week by =
the International Astronomical Union, which is in charge of approving =
celestial names.

Until last year, scientists thought Pluto was accompanied by only one =
moon, Charon. But the Hubble Space Telescope spotted the two satellites =
- more than twice as far away as Charon and many times fainter.

The duo had been known by the tongue-twisting names S/2005 P 2 and =
S/2005 P 1. Earlier this year, the moons' discoverers, led by Alan Stern =
of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., submitted their =
choices to the IAU.

The names, with roots in Greek mythology, were selected in part because =
their first letters, "N" and "H," were a tribute to the New Horizons =
spacecraft, Stern said Wednesday.

New Horizons blasted off earlier this year on a nine-year mission to =
study Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system. Stern is =
the mission's principal investigator.

Nix was originally spelled "Nyx" by Stern's group. Nyx is the Greek =
goddess of darkness and Hydra is the nine-headed serpent that guarded =
the underworld. Pluto is the Roman god of the underworld.

But since a near-Earth object was already called Nyx, the IAU decided to =
tweak the spelling to "Nix" to avoid confusion.

Stern said he wasn't disappointed by the spelling change because the =
pronunciation and significance of the names were still intact.

"The joke was that they nixed Nyx," Stern said.

This summer, the IAU will debate whether Pluto should remain a planet. =
The discovery of an icy object slightly larger than Pluto in the Kuiper =
Belt last year reinvigorated the argument over whether to demote Pluto =
or add other planets.

___



=20


-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-------


No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.2/370 - Release Date: 6/20/2006



-- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis --
-- Type: application/octet-stream
-- File: 
capt.b29686c5b5724ccca0d1315622a18250.plutos_moons_la101.jpg?x=180&y=206&sig=gnM_nhQyTeyY1NLyu0W6dA--


--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please 
send personal replies to the author, not the list.

Other related posts: