What are some facts about the moons of Pluto?

Answer 1

Here are some facts about Pluto:

• In 2006, got reclassified from a "planet" to a "dwarf planet".
• Pluto gets closer to the Sun than Neptune about 10% of its orbit.
• The temperature is around -230°C (-382°F).
• Pluto is smaller than the Earth's Moon.
• New Horizons was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and sent back very good images of the surface.
• Pluto is 3,670 million miles away from the Sun.
• It takes 248 Earth years for Pluto to orbit around the Sun.
• One day on Pluto is about 6 and a half earth days.
• Pluto has 5 moons: Charon, Hydra and Nix Kerberos and Styx.
• Pluto and Charon spin on an axis of about 123 degrees.
• Pluto has a large rock core, an icy mantle and an icy surface.
• Pluto and Charon orbit together so both of them only see one side of each other.
• Because of Pluto's weird orbit, it is sometimes closer to the earth than Neptune.

Answer 2

Pluto's entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between the dwarf planet and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system. The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto.

The known moons of Pluto are:

1. Charon: Discovered in 1978, this small moon is almost half the size of Pluto. It is so big Pluto and Charon are sometimes referred to as a double planet system.
   
2. Nix: Found in 2005 by a Hubble Space Telescope team studying the Pluto system.
3. Hydra: Also Found in 2005 by a Hubble Space Telescope team studying the Pluto system.
   
4. Kerberos: Discovered in 2011, this tiny moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra.
   
5. Styx: Discovered in 2012, this little moon was found by a team of scientists searching for potential hazards to the New Horizons spacecraft flyby in 2015.
   

Scientists are searching for more possible moons orbiting Pluto and also signs of a possible debris field generated by the theoretical impact billions of years ago.