Pluto's new moons named..., Pluto's recently discovered moons christened... |
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Pluto's new moons named..., Pluto's recently discovered moons christened... |
 Jun 21 2006, 05:31 AM
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 The Poet Dude  Group: Moderator Posts: 3845 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60  |
Pluto's baby twin moons, formerly known as S/2005 P 1 and S/2005 P 2,
have been christened Nix and Hydra. The objects, discovered last year by the Hubble Space Telescope, received their names from the International Astronomical Union (IAU). A formal announcement will be issued this Friday, 23 June. Hey, they named a moon after an UMSFer!!! Well done Nix!! 
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Jun 21 2006, 05:38 AM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1970 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
Congrats, Nico!
-------------------- - Marco -
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Jun 21 2006, 01:46 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 248 Joined: 11-June 05 From: Finland (62°14′N 25°44′E) Member No.: 408 |
Source: ScienceNOW daily news article
-------------------- The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
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Jun 21 2006, 01:54 PM
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 510 Joined: 17-March 05 From: Southeast Michigan Member No.: 209 |
From the article:
The first letters, N and H, also refer to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft Sweet! How's that for posterity?  Though I'm not sure I understand this: The naming of Hydra "could possibly" help convince the IAU to preserve Pluto's planethood, says Steffl. How would that name convince the IAU? Or is it a joke, as in "if the IAU drops Pluto's planetary status, we'll sic our Hydra on them"... -------------------- --O'Dave
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Jun 21 2006, 04:44 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2538 Joined: 11-February 04 From: Tucson, AZ Member No.: 23 |
QUOTE (odave @ Jun 21 2006, 06:54 AM)  The naming of Hydra "could possibly" help convince the IAU to preserve Pluto's planethood, says Steffl. How would that name convince the IAU? Or is it a joke, as in "if the IAU drops Pluto's planetary status, we'll sic our Hydra on them"... Yes, it was a joke..hehe Though I like how they changed the spelling of Nyx to Nix to avoid a conflict with 3908 Nyx. Maybe Nico had a bit more influence on the naming  But I can understand this conflict since 3908 Nyx isn't some random small asteroid, and research into its shape via RADAR has been done.
-------------------- &@^^!% Jim! I'm a geologist, not a physicist!
The Gish Bar Times - A Blog all about Jupiter's Moon Io |
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Jun 21 2006, 04:47 PM
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 417 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
QUOTE (volcanopele @ Jun 21 2006, 09:44 AM) Yes, it was a joke..hehe Though I like how they changed the spelling of Nyx to Nix to avoid a conflict with 3908 Nyx. Maybe Nico had a bit more influence on the naming But I can understand this conflict since 3908 Nyx isn't some random small asteroid, and research into its shape via RADAR has been done.Rats... They didn't use the names I e-mailed Emily L. at The Planetary Society last year... Oh well, can't remember what the names were anyway
-------------------- 2010 NASA JPL Open House photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_openhouse4.html
2009 NASA Kennedy Space Center photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_KSC01.html |
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Jun 21 2006, 05:36 PM
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 809 Joined: 11-March 04 Member No.: 56 |
QUOTE (Jyril @ Jun 21 2006, 01:46 PM) Source: ScienceNOW daily news article Which one is Nix and which one is Hydra? The Science article isn't 100% clear on the subject. |
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Jun 21 2006, 05:51 PM
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 Bloggette par Excellence Group: Admin Posts: 2578 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Nix is the inner (f.k.a. P2) and Hydra is the outer (f.k.a. P1): "Because an asteroid with the name Nyx already exists, the IAU decided to use a slightly different spelling for the inner one of the two small Plutonian moons, to avoid confusion." The new names (and other relevant data) are now on my Pluto's Moons page.
--Emily -------------------- The Planetary Society
My blog: http://planetary.org/blog |
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Jun 21 2006, 05:54 PM
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 510 Joined: 17-March 05 From: Southeast Michigan Member No.: 209 |
QUOTE (David @ Jun 21 2006, 01:36 PM) Which one is Nix and which one is Hydra? The Science article isn't 100% clear on the subject. Not sure myself, but I assume it's a former/latter relationship, with S/2005 P1 being Nix and S/2005 P2 being Hydra. The article could have used a little more buffing & polishing, IMHO. EDIT: Just saw Emily's post with the correct answer... -------------------- --O'Dave
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Jun 21 2006, 05:56 PM
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 3845 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
The naming of Hydra "could possibly" help convince the IAU to preserve Pluto's planethood, says Steffl.
How would that name convince the IAU? Maybe because some versions of the mythical Hydra have 9 heads... sooooo, the naming could have a subtle "hands off" meaning, i.e. very appropriate to have a 9 headed Hydra standing guard over the 9th planet...? -------------------- |
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Jun 21 2006, 06:19 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 417 Joined: 25-October 05 From: California Member No.: 535 |
QUOTE (Stu @ Jun 21 2006, 10:56 AM) The naming of Hydra "could possibly" help convince the IAU to preserve Pluto's planethood, says Steffl. How would that name convince the IAU? Maybe because some versions of the mythical Hydra have 9 heads... sooooo, the naming could have a subtle "hands off" meaning, i.e. very appropriate to have a 9 headed Hydra standing guard over the 9th planet...? Makes sense -------------------- 2010 NASA JPL Open House photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_openhouse4.html
2009 NASA Kennedy Space Center photos: http://www.rich-parno.com/aa_KSC01.html |
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Jun 21 2006, 07:45 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 376 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
QUOTE (punkboi @ Jun 21 2006, 06:19 PM) Makes sense You will all be interested in dowloading the topmost link at www.boulder.swri.edu/plutomoons This link has the nomination petition that the Pluto moons discovery team made to the IAU at the end of March. Lot's of good info in that; the IAU approved this nomination last week. -Alan |
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Jun 21 2006, 10:58 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3074 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Elk Grove, CA Member No.: 197 |
QUOTE (Alan Stern @ Jun 21 2006, 11:45 AM) You will all be interested in dowloading the topmost link at www.boulder.swri.edu/plutomoons Congrats Alan. |
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Jun 21 2006, 11:00 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 723 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
QUOTE (Alan Stern @ Jun 21 2006, 12:45 PM) You will all be interested in dowloading the topmost link at www.boulder.swri.edu/plutomoons From the Word document: QUOTE Finally, we note that the proposed names for the new satellites follow the convention of using names from Greek mythology for the satellites of planets, whose names are chosen from Roman mythology (i.e., Pluto is Roman while its satellites Charon, Nyx, and Hydra are all Greek). If there is such a convention, it would seem to not apply to Uranus. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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Jun 21 2006, 11:06 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Jun 22 2006, 12:00 AM) From the Word document: If there is such a convention, it would seem to not apply to Uranus. Do you mean that Wm Shakespeare isn't all Greek to you? Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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