October 31, 2005

Hiding in the Darkness ... Around Pluto

And in other news, an IAU bulletin is making the rounds. The Hubble has detected two small objects orbiting ... Pluto!

Technically both Pluto and Charon, actually, as they're in a relatively wide orbit. So does that mean Pluto has three moons, or that the Pluto-Charon system has two moons? Or maybe this is another example of why calling Pluto a planet doesn't actually make all that much sense.

The public media hasn't noticed yet that I can see, but I'm sure it will soon. So keep an eye out for news of S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2 in the next few days.

Posted by Milligan at October 31, 2005 03:12 PM | TrackBack
Comments

CNN posted a story about this around 4 pm today:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/10/31/pluto.moons.reut/index.html

Posted by: Brig at October 31, 2005 07:58 PM (Permalink)
Post a comment









Remember personal info?






The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.