New Moon for Pluto

Last week NASA announced that the Hubble telescope discovered a 4th Moon Around Pluto. The new moon is temporarily designated P4 (aka S/2011 P 1 or S/2011 (134340) 1). The moon was officially discovered on 28 June 2011 (Left picture below). Observations on 3 July 2011 (right picture below) & 18 July 2011 enabled it to be verified & declared so on 20 July 2011. (Naturally archival photos, in this case from 15 February 2006 & 25 June 2010, have been found.)

Image credit: NASA/ESA/M. Showalter (SETI institute)

Hubble was observing Pluto in an attempt to see if the planet had any rings. The potential rings, even though they are faint & thin, could potentially harm the New Horizons spacecraft heading toward Pluto. Instead, a new moon was found. The new moon has an has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km), smallest of the 4 known moons.

The way P4 was discovered shows us how much our technology has advanced over the last 80+ years since Pluto was 1st discovered & assumed to be a much larger planet than it turned out to be. But it also serves to remind us of the importance of sending spacecraft to other planets as well. I am willing to bet that we will see as many interesting discoveries from New Horizons as there have been as a result of the visits by probes to other planets. & even more questions will be raised as well.

Psalm 19 says that "The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands." Here we are seeing more evidence of that truth.

(editorial comment) While some scientists see the term "dwarf planet" as a designation that planets like Pluto aren't equal to the other planets, the latest discovery tells me that amn attitude like that is wrong. That is like saying the terrestrial planets are 2nd class because they are way smaller & different than the gas giants & ice giants. No, they are just another type.

Source: NASA's Hubble Discovers Another Moon Around Pluto