Monday, 26 January 2015

Moons of Pluto

Q26: Will any previously undiscovered moons of Pluto be discovered by the New Horizons probe?
Yes: 75%
No: 25%
(Definition note: The question will not count either way if the New Horizons probe fails)

The New Horizons probe will be searching for as-yet undiscovered moons of Pluto.  According to the Wikipedia article, it is expected to find moons down to a 2km diameter.  The smallest detected moon of Pluto, Styx, is around 15km in diameter.  It is plausible that there might be a number of smaller moons; Jupiter and Saturn both have a large number of smaller moons (in the 2-10km range).  According to this article, Pluto might have as many as 10 moons (although the theory that this prediction is based on might be in error).

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