PIA20052-SmallMoonsOfPluto-Animation-20151110

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PIA20152: Spinning Moons

UPLOADER NOTE (Drbogdan (talk) 04:28, 10 November 2015 (UTC)): CONVERTED ORIGINAL "MP4" ANIMATION FILE TO "WEBM" FILE (via Miro Video Converter)

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20152

Most inner moons in the solar system keep one face pointed toward their central planet; this animation shows that certainly isn't the case with the small moons of Pluto, which behave like spinning tops. Pluto is shown at center with, in order, from smaller to wider orbit: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos, Hydra.

View the animation.

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed, built, and operates the New Horizons spacecraft, and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Archive

Wikimedia Commons, in Wikimedia Commons

Licence or status

Public domain, as the Wikimedia Commons states it.

Rights statement

Public domain

Credit

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

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