What is the name of Pluto's moon?

Pluto, once considered the ninth planet in our solar system, is now classified as a dwarf planet. Despite its reclassification, Pluto still has five moons orbiting around it. The largest and most well-known moon of Pluto is Charon.

Charon was discovered in 1978 by astronomer James Christy, who named it after the mythological ferryman who carried souls across the river Styx to the underworld. Charon is unique in that it is almost half the size of Pluto, making it the largest moon in relation to its parent planet in our solar system.

Charon's surface is covered with water ice and is believed to have a thin atmosphere. Its proximity to Pluto causes both objects to be tidally locked, meaning they always show the same face to each other as they orbit around a common center of mass.

In addition to Charon, Pluto has four smaller moons: Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. These moons were discovered in 2005, 2011, and 2012 by the Hubble Space Telescope and the New Horizons spacecraft.

Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra are much smaller than Charon and have irregular shapes, indicating they may have been captured asteroids or Kuiper Belt objects that were pulled into orbit around Pluto.

Overall, Pluto and its moons provide valuable insights into the formation and evolution of our solar system. The study of these distant objects can help scientists better understand the processes that shaped the planets and moons in our cosmic neighborhood.

As our exploration of the outer solar system continues, we may uncover even more moons and mysteries surrounding Pluto and its unique family of satellites. Charon, with its size and proximity to Pluto, will likely remain a focal point of future research and discovery.

For more information on Pluto's moon and the latest discoveries in our solar system, be sure to follow updates from NASA and other space agencies exploring the wonders of the cosmos.

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