Names for moons
According to ScienceNOW (via the Bad Astronomer), the second and third moons of Pluto are about to be officially assigned names by the International Astronomical Union. So far they have been known as S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2, but will now go by the names Nix (a mis-spelling of Nyx) and Hydra. The announcement is earlier than I expected as I thought it might occur at the IAU General Assembly in August.
An image of Pluto, Charon and the candidate moons created by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005 CREDIT: NASA/ESA/H. Weaver/A. Stern
Comments: Names for moons
whi
Posted by hayr on Friday 07th Jul 2006 (16:46 UTC)
The ScienceNow article I link to gives the reasons for the names. Hydra was the monster that guarded Pluto's underworld in Greek mythology. Nyx was the primordial goddess of the night. However Nyx had already been used in the Solar System so Nix are actually water creatures in German and Scandinavian folklore. ScienceNow also suggests that the first letters - N and H - are also the first letters of NASA's mission to Pluto - New Horizons.
Posted by Stuart on Friday 07th Jul 2006 (22:47 UTC)