This picture shows Pluto (left) and its big moon Charon (right). This picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy Dr. R. Albrecht (ESA/ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility) and NASA.
The Moons of Pluto
Pluto has
moons. One of the moons is very big. The big moon is name Charon.
The other two moons are small. They don't really have names yet. For now
they are
called S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2.
James Christy discovered Charon in 1978. Charon is almost as big as Pluto!
Some astronomers call Pluto and Charon a
double planet.
S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2 were discovered in 2005. A team of astronomers found
the moons. The leaders of the team were Alan Stern and Harold Weaver. They were
getting ready for the New
Horizons space mission to Pluto. They were searching for new moons of Pluto.
They were excited when they found two new moons! They used the Hubble
Space Telescope to find the moons. S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2 are much smaller
than Charon.
S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2 will get "real" names after a while. Astronomers
want to be sure about the moons before they give them real names. The scientists
will observe the moons some more before they give them names.
Nobody has seen any rings around Pluto so far. We don't think it has rings,
but we don't know for sure.
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