spacetoday.net: New search for additional Pluto moons planned

Posted: Mon, Feb 24, 2003, 8:24 PM ET (0124 GMT)
New Horizons illustration (JHUAPL)

Planetary scientists plan to carry out a telescope search in the near future for any additional moons of the distant planet Pluto. Officials with the New Horizons spacecraft project, the first spacecraft slated to fly by Pluto, said they plan to use both groundbased telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope later this year to scan the region of space around Pluto to look for additional moons. This new search was prompted by the discoveries of moons around several smaller Kuiper Belt objects. Current telescopes and cameras should allow scientists to be able to determine if any moons 10-20 kilometers in diameter or larger orbit the planet. Pluto currently has only one known moon, Charon, a body a diameter slightly greater than half of Pluto's.