Nix is one of the small outer moons of Pluto, found along with Hydra in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope by a team led by Hal Weaver and Alan Stern. Its name, like Hydra's, was chosen partly for its first letter, which matches the New Horizons mission that was en route to Pluto, and Nix is a Greek goddess of night. The moon is irregular and tumbles chaotically because of the combined gravity of Pluto and Charon. The New Horizons spacecraft photographed it in 2015 during its flyby, showing a bright, elongated body with a reddish spot.
Before and after
- April 2005Founding of ALBA
- 2 April 2005Death of John Paul II
- 8 April 2005Creation of Kubuntu
- 1 May 2005Discovery of Daphnis
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Nix
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 27 May 2005Release of Madagascar
- 30 May 2005Construction of Allianz Arena
- 13 June 2005Discovery of Gliese 876 d
More in Universe & space
- 22 June 1978Discovery of Charon
- 4 March 1979Discovery of Metis
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- 1998Supernovae show that cosmic expansion is accelerating
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
- 25 December 2021Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.