The New Horizons spacecraft, from NASA is on a travel route close to the five moons of Pluto. The five moons of Pluto are Charon, Hydra, Nix, Kerberos and Styx. The New Horizons ship has the ability to take photos of the dwarf planet Pluto along with all of the five moons of Pluto at once.
The New Horizons probe is scheduled to travel closest to Pluto and the moons of Pluto by July 14, but it has already been taking pictures of the group of planet and moons since April 25. When it took the first shots of the moons of Pluto, Kerberos and Styx, it was an historic occasion since they are very far away and look faint from the Earth. Man has been unable to get clear and distinct images due to their massive distance from the Sun.
Moons of Pluto Very Far From Earth, Hard to See
The five moons of Pluto are still quite a distance from the spacecraft. In fact, they are over 55-million miles or 88.5-million kilometers. The scientists were able to see the moons of Pluto due to the abilities of the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, or LORRI camera on the New Horizons. The five moons of Pluto are varying sizes: Charon is about half the size of Pluto, while the rest of the moons of Pluto are quite small. Charon is 648 miles in diameter.
For instance, Kerberos is between four and 13 miles in diameter or seven to 21 kilometers in diameter and Styx is a mere six to 20 miles in diameter or 10 to 32 kilometers. The New Horizons craft was able to take individual shots of the moons as they travel around Pluto and some show the four smaller ones with Charon as a brighter orb next to the parent planet of Pluto.
Moons of Pluto First Seen Four Years Ago
When it comes to the existence of the moons of Pluto, the two moons Kerberos and Styx were seen for the first time in 2011 and 2012.They were found by the NASA Hubble Telescope. In fact, if this new travel mission by New Horizons spots any more planets or moons along its trip, they will be ones that mankind has never seen before.
As of July 14, the New Horizons probe will be as close as 7,800 miles or 12,500 kilometers from the planet Pluto and the moons of Pluto. Pluto was first found in 1930 and until New Horizons was built and launched, it appeared to scientists as a very distinct blur, but now scientists will get the first clear images of Pluto and the moons of Pluto thanks to this latest scientific technology.
