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All Moons of Pluto: Names, Number and Facts

moon of pluto

Pluto is a dwarf planet that has a total of 5 moons. The names of all moons of Pluto Dwarf Planet are Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. These moons (Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra) are in order of increasing distance from Pluto. Here in this article, you will know much more information and facts about these Pluto moons. 

Pluto is usually a small object of our solar system. According to size, it is around 1/6th to our earth. Though this dwarf planet has 5 moons (natural satellites). Whereas our earth has only one moon besides its bigger size. The diameter of Pluto is around 2380 km in size. Whereas its moon Charon (diameter – 1212 km) is just approximately half of it in size. 

Pluto Moons in order of distance

Charon is the closest moon to Pluto and Hydra is the farthest moon of Pluto. Here you can find the distance of satellites of Pluto in an order. The Pluto Moons in order of increasing distance are:

5 Pluto Moons Distance from Pluto
Charon 19570 km
Styx 42655 km
Nix 48695 km
Kerberos 57785 km
Hydra 64740 km
Pluto moons
Pluto Moons: According to Distance

Pluto Moons in order of size

According to size, Charan is the largest moon of Pluto. Charon is just approximately half of the dwarf planet Pluto in size. Whereas Styx is the smallest moon of Pluto. 

Pluto Moons Size (diameter)
Charon 1212 km
Hydra 51 km
Nix 49.8 km
Kerberos 19 km
Styx 16 km

So these were Pluto’s 5 moons in order of size. These moons are not in regular shape, so these listed diameters are the size at one side (large side dimension). For example, the Nix moon diameter in dimensional form is (49.8 × 33.2 × 31).

Moons of Pluto – Facts

  • Dwarf Planet Pluto has five Moons (Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra).
  • According to scientists, Pluto and its moons were formed by a collision between Dwarf Planet Pluto and a Kuiper Belt Object.
  • Charon satellite was discovered in 1978.
  • Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005 by the Hubble Space Telescope team.
  • Kerberos was discovered in 2011, whereas Styx was discovered in 2015 when New Horizons spacecraft passed nearby to Pluto system.
  • Charon is mutual tidally locked with Pluto, which means Charon and Pluto always face the same side towards each other.
  • Considering a moon, Charon is quite large in size. This is why Pluto-Charon is also known as a double dwarf planet. 
  • Charon is the nearest and largest moon of Pluto.
  • The space probe New Horizons has visited near Pluto and its moons system in July 2015.

Now, you must have got to know how many moons does Pluto has. It has a total of 5 moons. In this article, we mentioned all Moons of Pluto with some interesting facts and information.