Pluto has itself a new moon

[SaltwaterServr]

Tiny little thing, but the Hubble found it this new one a few days ago. It's named P4 for now...


The discovery of a new moon around Pluto hints that a NASA spacecraft streaking toward the dwarf planet could uncover more surprises when it finally gets there.

The tiny new moon — announced today (July 20) and called P4 for now — brings the number of known Pluto satellites to four. And the find, made with the Hubble Space Telescope, suggests that NASA's New Horizons probe could make some big discoveries, too, when it makes a close flyby of Pluto in 2015, researchers said.

http://www.space.com/12356-pluto-fourth-moon-discovery-hubble-photo.html

 

[joseephuss]

So, why isn't Pluto a planet again? It has more moons than Earth.

 

[casmith07]

So, why isn't Pluto a planet again? It has more moons than Earth.

Seriously.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Pluto needs to get it's **** together

 

[YosemiteSam]

I read about this recently. The coolest part of it is that Hubble can see it clear as day and it's only 8-21 miles across yet 5+ billion miles away!

As for why Pluto is no longer a planet, here is what happen.

There are two asteroid belts in our solar system. The normal one everyone knows about between Mars and Jupiter. Then there is another one deep out in space called the Kuiper Belt. (pronounced Kiper like Mel Kiper)

Pluto was discovered in 1930 and exists pretty much in the Kuiper Belt. As years past, they started to find other objects in the Kuiper belt that were almost the size of Pluto and it started to call into question whether Pluto was actually a planet or just another Kuiper Belt object. By all definitions, it was a planet as it held the two main characteristics of a planet. It orbited the Sun and had a hydrostatic equilibrium. (basically, had enough mass/gravitational pressure to make it round in shape)

Considering it is believed that the Kuiper Belt had as many as 70,000 objects, they knew at some point, someone would find an object in the Kuiper belt that was larger than Pluto. In 2005 they did, it's name is Eris and is about 20-25% more massive than Pluto. So the question came up again. Is Eris a planet too or is it just a Kuiper Belt object. So, in 2006 the IAU (International Astronomical Union) decided to settle it. They would vote on the definition of a planet. The vote was approved with the following rules defining a planet.

1. Orbits around the Sun. (check)
2. Has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape) (check)
3. Has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit. (Here is where Pluto and Eris fail)

The reason they fail is because they are in the Kuiper Belt with thousands of other objects that are close their own size. (ie, haven't cleared their orbital path around the sun) Therefore they are now classified as dwarf planets. (they agree with the first two rules, but not the third) At some point a full blown planet could emerge out of the Kuiper Belt, but that is probably 100s of millions of years away.

 

[Doomsday101]

It has had that moon for a long time so it is not new, it is just new to us. :laugh2:

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Is this some old Duran Duran song?

 

[zrinkill]

I read about this recently. The coolest part of it is that Hubble can see it clear as day and it's only 8-21 miles across yet 5+ billion miles away!

As for why Pluto is no longer a planet, here is what happen.

There are two asteroid belts in our solar system. The normal one everyone knows about between Mars and Jupiter. Then there is another one deep out in space called the Kuiper Belt. (pronounced Kiper like Mel Kiper)

Pluto was discovered in 1930 and exists pretty much in the Kuiper Belt. As years past, they started to find other objects in the Kuiper belt that were almost the size of Pluto and it started to call into question whether Pluto was actually a planet or just another Kuiper Belt object. By all definitions, it was a planet as it held the two main characteristics of a planet. It orbited the Sun and had a hydrostatic equilibrium. (basically, had enough mass/gravitational pressure to make it round in shape)

Considering it is believed that the Kuiper Belt had as many as 70,000 objects, they knew at some point, someone would find an object in the Kuiper belt that was larger than Pluto. In 2005 they did, it's name is Eris and is about 20-25% more massive than Pluto. So the question came up again. Is Eris a planet too or is it just a Kuiper Belt object. So, in 2006 the IAU (International Astronomical Union) decided to settle it. They would vote on the definition of a planet. The vote was approved with the following rules defining a planet.

1. Orbits around the Sun. (check)
2. Has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape) (check)
3. Has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit. (Here is where Pluto and Eris fail)

The reason they fail is because they are in the Kuiper Belt with thousands of other objects that are close their own size. (ie, haven't cleared their orbital path around the sun) Therefore they are now classified as dwarf planets. (they agree with the first two rules, but not the third) At some point a full blown planet could emerge out of the Kuiper Belt, but that is probably 100s of millions of years away.

Nice.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Let's no moon

 

[Dodger]

That's no moon......it's a space station.

 

[Alumni2k11]

Pretty cool stuff.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

There are of course exceptions to the 3 rule criteria as well. There are other Jupiter like planets out there that never achieved mass to become light emitting stars. They do not orbit anything, and may be binary. By definition they aren't planets, but they'll never make star size either.

 

[burmafrd]

Seems to me like those guys have too much time on their hands.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Seems to me like those guys have too much time on their hands.

Compared to who? These guys? :laugh2:

 

[casmith07]

Compared to who? These guys? :laugh2:

:laugh1:

 

[burmafrd]

That really is a case of pick em.

 

[DallasEast]

Let's no moon

That's no moon......it's a space station.

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