Astronomers in the U.S. space agency (NASA) found the fourth moon that surrounds of dwarf planet Pluto. Mini-sized moon was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronomers know of that moon when it was examined whether Pluto has a ring. That's when they actually find other objects that surround the dwarf planet is 4.8 billion kilometers from earth.
"It's incredible when knowing Hubble camera allows us to see small objects that are so clearly from a distance so far." says Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
The moon was very small. Width of only 13 to 34 kilometers. Pluto's largest moon, Charon, 80 times larger with a diameter of 1043 kilometers. Pluto's other two moon are Nix and Hydra, a diameter of 32 to 113 kilometers.
In the interim, NASA astronomers called it P4 moon, until they decide the proper name for Pluto is the fourth moon.
The first image of P4 immortalized with a wide field camera 3 Hubble on June 28, 2011 and confirmed with additional photos on July 3 and July 18. "The moon was previously unseen in the Hubble image as shorter exposure times," says NASA.*** [AP | NASA | KORAN TEMPO 3597]
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