Fourth Moon Found Orbiting Pluto

The discovery of a NEW MOON AROUND PLUTO hints that a NASA spacecraft streaking toward the dwarf planet could uncover more surprises when it finally gets there, hails "THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR"."This is a fantastic discovery," NEW HORIZONS' principal investigator Alan Stern said in a statement. "Now that we know there's another moon in the Pluto system, we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby," reported by NPR RADIO."Pluto's satellite system is truly knocking our socks off with surprises - it's magnificently complex, and getting more crowded all the time. I can't wait till we get there to see what other surprises this planet and its moons have in store for us!"- Stern told MSNBC'S ALAN BOYLE.The new moon is the smallest discovered around Pluto. It has an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 km). By comparison, Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is 648 miles (1,043 km) across, and the other moons, Nix and Hydra, are in the range of 20 to 70 miles in diameter (32 to 113 km) says NASA. The discovery gives NASA's New Horizons mission, scheduled to fly through the Pluto system in July 2015, another tempting scientific target and then GO BEYOND.

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