Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Dwarf Planet
What Is a Dwarf Planet? A dwarf planet is a celestial body that is in orbit around the Sun and has enough mass to be…
Styx News
Styx is one of Pluto’s moons, discovered in 2012 by a team using the Hubble Space Telescope. Named after the mythological river that separates the world of the living from the realm of the dead in ancient Greek mythology, Styx is the fifth moon confirmed to orbit Pluto. It is part of a complex system of satellites that includes Charon, Nix, Hydra, and Kerberos. Styx is the smallest among these, with an estimated diameter of about 10 to 25 kilometers. Due to its size and distance, details about its surface composition and specific features remain less known compared to the larger moons like Charon. Styx, along with the other small moons, orbits Pluto in a plane that is nearly coplanar with Charon’s orbit, suggesting a possibly complex evolutionary history involving gravitational interactions within this satellite system.
Webb Space Telescope To Examine Planetary Leftovers in the Solar System Graveyard
These icy bodies are the leftovers from planet formation. In the distant reaches of the solar system lies a region called the Kuiper Belt. Beyond…
New Horizons Pluto Flyby Reveals More Than 50 Exciting Discoveries
New information from NASA’s New Horizons Mission has revealed more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto. From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, scientists continue…
New Horizons Views Pluto’s Moon Kerberos
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft has captured images of Pluto’s tiny moon Kerberos, completing the family portrait of Pluto’s moons. Kerberos appears to be smaller than…
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Observes Pluto’s Smallest Moon
New images from NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft reveal the shape and size of Pluto’s smallest moon, Styx. Styx – also the faintest of Pluto’s five…
New Horizons Views Pluto’s Smaller Moons
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft reveals new images of Pluto’s moons Hydra and Nix. Pluto has five known moons. In order of distance from Pluto, they…
Astrophysicist Scott Kenyon Shares His Thoughts and Reactions on New Horizons’ Flyby of Pluto
As astrophysicists around the world watch to see what NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft will reveal about the Pluto, Scott Kenyon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for…
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Reveals First Close-Up View of Pluto
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft shows a close-up image of an equatorial region near the base of Pluto’s bright heart-shaped feature, revealing a mountain range with…
New Horizons Measures Size of Pluto, Settles Decades-Long Debate
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft has only just reached Pluto, but it has already solved a decades-long debated question about the dwarf planet: How big is…
Hubble Reveals That Two of Pluto’s Moons Wobble Unpredictably
New research provides important constraints on the sequence of events that led to the formation of the Pluto system, revealing the resonant interactions and chaotic…
New Horizons Photographs Pluto’s Faintest Known Moons for the First Time
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has photographed Kerberos and Styx – the smallest and faintest of Pluto’s five known moons. It’s a complete Pluto family photo…
New Horizons Spots Small Moons Orbiting Pluto
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft views Pluto’s moons Nix and Hydra as it continues on its journey toward the dwarf planet. Exactly 85 years after Clyde…
Planetary Scientists Debate: Is Pluto a Planet?
The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics held a new debate to discuss the planetary status of Pluto. What is a planet? For generations of kids, the…
New ScienceCast Video Previews What New Horizons May See on Pluto
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is only a year away from Pluto. This new ScienceCast video previews what researchers may see when the spacecraft makes its…
The Formation of Pluto and Its Moons
A newly published study looks at the formation of Pluto and its low-mass satellites, finding Pluto and Charon formed from particles that coalesced together in…
New ScienceCast Video – Countdown to Pluto
A new ScienceCast video details what NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft might find when it reaches Pluto next January. One of the fastest spacecraft ever built…
Kerberos and Styx Accepted by IAU as Names for Pluto’s Fourth and Fifth Moon
Kerberos and Styx have been officially recognized as the names for the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is announcing…