Pluto’s moons

This illustration shows the scale and comparative brightness of Pluto’s small satellites, as discovered by Hubble over the past years. Pluto’s binary companion, Charon — discovered in 1978 — is placed at the bottom for scale. The image illustrates that two of the moons are highly oblate and that the reflectivity among the moons varies from dark charcoal to the brightness of sand. As Hubble cannot resolve surface features on the moons the textures seen here are purely for illustration purposes.

Credit:

NASA, ESA, A. Field (STScI)

About the Image

Id:heic1512b
Type:Artwork
Release date:3 June 2015, 19:00
Related releases:heic1512
Size:5600 x 4800 px

About the Object

Name:Charon, Hydra, Kerberos, Nix, Styx
Type:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Dwarf planet
Category:Solar System

Image Formats

r.titleLarge JPEG
3.0 MB
r.titleScreensize JPEG
278.8 KB

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