WASHINGTON: Pluto has at least five moons, and these distant satellites orbit through the collection of bodies in a highly complex manner. Now, data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) reveals surprising information about the dance of satellites around the icy dwarf planet.
Charon is the largest moon of Pluto, first seen by astronomers at the United States Naval Observatory in 1978. This body orbits so close to its icy parent body that the two are often described as a binary planet, although neither are true planets according to current standards. The term “binary planet” is an informal one, referring to a set of planetary bodies in which a satellite is of a significant size compared to its companion. Some astronomers believe the Earth and our Moon could be classified as such a system. Charon is 750 miles across, roughly half as wide as Pluto itself.
Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005, followed by the smallest known moons, Kerberos, found in 2011, and Styx, discovered the following year.
The unusual movement of this “binary planet” appears to be driving complex gravitational forces that are creating strange paths for the smaller moons orbiting the icy pair.
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