Nix and Hydra Join Solar System
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LOS ANGELES – Meet the newest kids in the solar system: Nix and Hydra. The pair of moons orbiting Pluto were officially christened last week by the International Astronomical Union.
Until last year, scientists thought Pluto was accompanied by only one moon, Charon. Earlier this year, the moons’ discoverers, led by Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., submitted their choices.
Nix was originally spelled “Nyx” after the Greek goddess of darkness. Hydra is the nine-headed serpent that guarded the underworld.
