Hubble telescope spots fifth moon near Pluto

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Hubble telescope spots fifth moon near Pluto

Sapa-AFP | 12 July, 2012 12:11

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows five moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. The green circle marks the newly discovered moon, designated S/2012 (134340) 1, or P5, as photographed by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 on 7 July 2012. Other observations that collectively show the moon’s orbital motion were taken on 26, 27 and 29 June and on July 9. The moon is estimated to be 10 to 25 kilometres across. It is in a 95 000 kilometre diameter circular orbit around Pluto that is assumed to be aligned in the same plane as the other satellites in the system. The darker stripe in the centre of the image is because the picture is constructed from a long exposure designed to capture the comparatively faint satellites of Nix, Hydra, P4 and S/2012 (134340) 1, and a shorter exposure to capture Pluto and Charon, which are much brighter. AFP PHOTO / NASA / ESA NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter

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US astronomers have found a fifth moon orbiting far-away Pluto, NASA said on Wednesday.

The irregular-shaped moon, nicknamed S/2012 for now, is about 10 to 24 kilometers across, the US space agency said.

Last year, astronomers reported finding the fourth moon around the icy dwarf planet some three billion miles away.

"The moons form a series of neatly nested orbits, a bit like Russian dolls," said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

Pluto's largest moon, Charon, is 648 miles across. The other two, Nix and Hydra, are between 20 and 70 miles in diameter, NASA said.

Hubble -- a potent space telescope that has transformed the field of astronomy since it was first launched in 1990 -- discovered Nix and Hydra in 2005. Astronomers at the US Naval Observatory glimpsed Charon in 1978.

Pluto, once known as the ninth planet from the Sun, was declassified as a full-fledged planet in August 2006 and joined the new category, dwarf planet.

At about 1,430 miles wide, it is about two-thirds the size of the moon and has a mass less than one percent of the Earth's.

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