Plutos 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
Formation of Plutos 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.)
To: SunkenCiv
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.)
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
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
To: BenLurkin
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURSEXCEPT 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.)
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson