Any clue as to when the fourth and fifth Plutonian moons will be given names?
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05-02-2013, 01:47 AM
Post: #1
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Any clue as to when the fourth and fifth Plutonian moons will be given names?
I saw on Twitter that the New Horizons team was collecting potential names about a month ago.
Does anyone have any clue as to when the official names will be announced? Could it possibly be in May, when the IAU holds the next naming convention? Or do you think they are just waiting for New Horizons to reach Pluto, find more moons, and name them all at once? @Paula: Smaller moons have been named. For example, Saturn's moon Aegaeon is only half a km wide. There are plenty of larger moons without names. The reason the Jovian and Saturnian moons have not been named is because they are running out of names - they each have over 60 moons! Pluto, on the other hand - its fourth and fifth moons are much larger than some with names, and it isn't like they'll run out of underworld associated names any time soon. Ads |
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05-02-2013, 01:48 AM
Post: #2
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These are tiny objects. They may not get names.
If they do get names then it may well be announced in May. The v5th moon was only found last year. Any further moons that are found will be smaller still. The tiny moons of Jupiter and Saturn are not named. In January 2015 New Horizons will start taking photos of Pluto (while sti8ll 6 months away from the closest approach. That set of photos will try to find additional moons and to see if Pluto has a ring system. Ads |
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