Astronomers Confirm Pluto Has Three Moons
Posted on: Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 21:00 CST
A Johns Hopkins astrophysicist and colleagues have confirmed Pluto -- the most distant planet in our Solar System -- has three moons.
Scientists have known for nearly 30 years Pluto had one moon -- Charon -- about half as wide as the planet itself. Although some astronomers suspected Pluto might have other, smaller moons, they were unable to detect them.
The scientists tentatively reported the existence of the two additional moons last year and now Johns Hopkins' Harold Weaver, along with Richard Binzel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., confirmed the moons' presence.
Compared with Charon, the two new moons -- called P1 and P2 -- are tiny. Their exact size is hard to gauge, but astronomers believe both are between about 30 and 100 miles across, compared with Charon's diameter of about 750 miles. The researchers estimate P1 orbits Pluto once every 38 days, and P2 every 25 days.
The scientists detail their discovery in the journal Nature.
Source: United Press International
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