The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: June 25, 2006

Official News - page 7

REAL LIFE NEWS: PLUTO'S MOONS NOW HAVE NAMES

In May of last year, astronomers discovered two new moons orbiting Pluto - 27 years after its larger Moon, Charon, had been first spotted. They were found using images from the Hubble Space Telescope, in a project that was supporting the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt beyond. The newly discovered bodies are about two to three times as far from Pluto as their big brother Charon.

The two new moons were given clumsy catalog numbers at the time, but now the International Astronomical Union has approved proper names for them: Nix and Hydra. In mythology, Nix is the goddess of darkness and night, which is appropriate for a satellite associated with Pluto, god of the underworld. Nix is also the mother of Charon. Hydra is the terrifying monster with the body of a serpent and with nine heads - since Pluto is the ninth planet in the solar system, this is appropriate, too.

Still, it would have been more fun if they'd called them Mickey and Donald!


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