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Pluto’s moon Nix (left), shown here in enhanced color, has a reddish spot that has attracted the interest of mission scientists. The photo was taken on July 14, 2015 when New Horizons was about 102,000 miles (165,000 km) from Nix and shows features as small as about 2 miles (3 km) across. Hydra (right) was photographed with the LORRI instrument from a distance of about 143,000 miles (231,000 km). Features as small as 0.7 miles (1.2 km) are visible. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute
1 posted on 07/22/2015 11:38:16 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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Formation of Pluto’s moons. 1: a Kuiper belt object approaches Pluto; 2: it impacts Pluto; 3: a dust ring forms around Pluto; 4: the debris aggregates to form Charon; 5: Pluto and Charon relax into spherical bodies. Smaller pieces became the irregularly-shaped moons Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. Credit: Wikipedia
2 posted on 07/22/2015 11:39:37 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SunkenCiv

ping


3 posted on 07/22/2015 11:39:59 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

At first I thought “Nix” was a typo, but it isn’t. The astronomers didn’t want to mix things up with an asteroid named “3908 Nyx”. I say ixnay on the asteroidway.


4 posted on 07/22/2015 11:42:01 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: BenLurkin
Why don't we have more missions like Voyager and New Horizons?

There are many dwarf planets beyond Pluto for us to explore

7 posted on 07/22/2015 11:44:44 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: BenLurkin
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS—EXCEPT EUROPA PLUTO
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE

12 posted on 07/22/2015 12:45:25 PM PDT by PrairieDawg (Know anyone that needs a C/C++ Unix and embedded guy? FReepmail me.)
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