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NRaleighLiberal

(60,013 posts) Fri Oct 9, 2015, 11:18 AM Oct 2015

Two of Pluto's moons (not round!) - First pics of Nix and Hydra

This project continues to amaze and astound me. When politics gets to be too much - consider the wonder of science - and that pics below are of bodies less than 30 miles across and very, very, very far away...and the miraculous mission that brought New Horizon close enough to get these pics. The full article linked below is worth reading.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/pluto/2015/10/05/plutos-small-moons-nix-and-hydra/

2 replies

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Highlight:

Two of Pluto's moons (not round!) - First pics of Nix and Hydra (Original Post) NRaleighLiberal Oct 2015 OP

Charon Mendocino Oct 2015 #1

Charon from the Bad Astronomer kay1864 Oct 2015 #2

Mendocino

(7,486 posts)

1. Charon

Reply to NRaleighLiberal (Original post)

Fri Oct 9, 2015, 11:51 AM

Oct 2015

Recently pics of Charon showed almost two separate hemispheres, the northern half relatively smooth separated by huge canyon systems from the crater pock marked southern. Could Charon be an aggregate of two or more of a smaller satellite types such as Nix and Hydra, spun by increased gravity, into a relatively round moon?

kay1864

(5,064 posts)

2. Charon from the Bad Astronomer

Reply to Mendocino (Reply #1)

Fri Oct 9, 2015, 01:32 PM

Oct 2015

Behold, the Mess That Is Charon

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