Vital Statistics for Pluto’s Satellites
Satellites of Pluto
| Name | Semimajor Axis (km) | Period (days) | Eccentricity | Inclination (deg) | Mean Diameter (km) | Mass (10^20 kg) | Footnotes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charon | 19,596 | 6.3872 | 0.00005 | 0.0 | 1212 | 15.9 | 1,2 | Largest moon of Pluto |
| Styx | 42,413 | 20.1617 | 0.00001 | 0.0 | 10.5 | 1,2 | Smallest of the moons and closest to the Pluto/Charon barycenter, | |
| Nix | 48,690 | 24.8548 | 0.00000 | 0.0 | 36 | 1,2 | Nix and Hydra are thought to be the remnants of a collision that formed Pluto and Charon | |
| Kerberos | 57,750 | 32.1679 | 0.00000 | 0.4 | 12 | 1,2 | Kerberos appears to have a double-lobed shape and has a high albedo | |
| Hydra | 64,721 | 38.2021 | 0.00554 | 0.3 | 37 | 1,2 |
Sources
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Brozovic, M., et al. 2015. The orbits and masses of satellites of Pluto. Icarus 246, 317-329. DOI:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.03.015
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Stern, S.A., et al. 2017. The Pluto system after New Horizons. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 56, 357-392. DOI:10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-051935
