Hydra (moon of Pluto)
Hidra (satélite de Plutón)
- Date
- 2005 · confidence high
- Place
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Credited to
- Max Mutchler and Andrew Steffl (Pluto Companion Search Team), with the Hubble Space Telescope
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Hydra, Pluto's third-largest moon, was discovered together with Nix in the same May 2005 Hubble imaging campaign, in preparation for the New Horizons mission.
What it led to
- Confirmation of a more complex Pluto system than expected
- Names (Nix and Hydra) chosen to form the initials NH in honour of New Horizons
- Study of the resonant orbital dynamics of the Plutonian system