Hubble detects new Plutonian moon
A Hubble Space Telescope search for possible rings around Pluto has turned up a diminutive fourth moon orbiting the dwarf planet. Pluto's moon P4 seen in grainy Hubble image. Pic: NASA The body, temporarily dubbed P4, joins Charon, Hydra and Nix in the family circling the icy world. NASA says P4 is around 8 to 21 miles (13 to …
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Plutonium
Did anyone else read that as plutonium? Almost sounded exciting...
not possible
You can't have a Plutonium moon, it would blow up.
That would depend on
the specific density of the plutonium. Also, if it were manufactured and the plutonium were shielded by Politicium, it would also be stable. Because nothing is denser than Politicium, not even pure neutronium.
Plutonian Ice and Molases
New flavour of icecream? At -240 deg centigrade, it may be a bit cold in the mouth.
Still sounds better than the tunafish flavour favoured by Kzinti in one Larry Niven story
So wretched commentards....
What do you think the name should be for this extremely small moon?
I'm going with "munchkin" personally, due to its size.
Gordon.
Due to the expected combined intelligence to be found on P4.
P4 stands for Pentium 4
Imagine the overclocking you could do at -240 ambient temperature
On the other hand, imagine the overclocking you would NEED to do to stay warm enough
Pluto jnr. obviously
Since the planet is obviously named after the Disney character ;)
Going classical on astronomy's ass; perhaps Alecto, daughter of Pluto (the god, not the dog)?
It should be called
Gromit. Small dog with an interest in moons, obvious innit?
p.s. I do like a bit of gorgonzola.
Rupert
Partly in celebration of the famous planet in THHGTTG, partly because it's probably where Mr. Murdoch would rather be at the moment.
and of course he is feeling that cold and lonely
so thumbs up to that name
Ooooh good call
We should rename the whole Plutonian system with Rupert at the centre orbited by James, Rebekah, Andy and Call Me Dave.
Planet?
I must be behind the times here - has Pluto been re-reclassified back to planetary status? I thought it was a Kuiper Belt object?
Dwarf planet
A sort of second-class citizen of the solar system. If you want my opinion, it keeps having all these satellites just so's it can mooch off social security without getting deported.
Seagoon: "Why did you name it P4?"
Bluebottle: "Because we saw it P4 anyone else!"
Minnie's dog...
...is named Fifi. So should P4, since it's Pluto's bitch.
Dwarf planet
Currently, I understand, the second largest dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris).
we can't call it a planet...
but it has more moons than any other solid body in the solar system....
It already *had* more moons that any other solid body in the solar system
So, what's your point again? 8 planets or 14+ planets, choose? But bear in mind that 14 is probably the lower bound.
Four moons?
Yep, that's a planet, not some minor league Kupier Belt thing-a-ma-bob. Time for the IAU to rectify their mistake.
To Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute:
You're a scientist, dammit! STOP USING MILES! Use a proper, scientific measuring system FFS.
If...
Pluto isn't big enough to be a planet then are it's stellites big enough to be called satelites?
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