Back in 2005, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovered a pair of small moons orbiting Pluto. Now the moons have officially been named Nix and Hydra. The names were approved this week by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) the recognized authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies. Nix and Hydra are roughly 5,000 times fainter than Pluto and are about two to three times farther from Pluto than its large moon, Charon, which was discovered in 1978. In Greek mythology, Nyx is the goddess of the night. The IAU decided to use the Egyptian equivalent, Nix, for the name of Pluto's moon. The mythological Hydra was a nine-headed serpent with poisonous blood. The Hydra had its den at the entrance of Hades, where Pluto and his wife Persephone entered the Underworld.
Image Credit: NASA/ESA/H. Weaver/A. Stern/HST Pluto Companion Search Team
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