Kerberos (moon of Pluto)
Cerbero (satélite de Plutón)
- Date
- 2011 · confidence high
- Place
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Credited to
- Mark R. Showalter (SETI Institute) and the Pluto Companion Search Team, using the Hubble Space Telescope
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Kerberos, the fourth moon of Pluto found, was discovered in Hubble images taken specifically to search for possible hazards to the New Horizons probe before its 2015 flyby; it is only about 10% as bright as Nix.
The name won a 2013 SETI Institute public poll as 'Cerberus', but the IAU adopted the Greek spelling 'Kerberos' because 'Cerberus' already named asteroid 1865 Cerberus.
What it led to
- Confirmation that it was safe to send New Horizons through the Pluto system
- Expansion to four known small moons of Pluto
- Discovery of Styx, the fifth moon, the following year
Built on
- Hubble Space Telescope1990
- Hydra (moon of Pluto)2005
- Nix (moon of Pluto)2005
- Discovery of Nix
- Discovery of Hydra