page_title: Nix (moon)
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Nix (moon) / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Discovery images of Plutonian satellites P1 and P2. "The enhanced-color images of Pluto (the brightest object) and Charon (to the right of Pluto) were constructed by combining short exposure images taken in filters near 475 nanometers (blue) and 555 nanometers (green-yellow). The images of the new satellites were made from longer exposures taken in a single filter centered near 606 nanometers (yellow), so no color information is available for them." Français&#160;: Photo prise par Hubble de la découverte de satellites plutonien P1 et P2. Pluton (objet le plus brillant, en jaune), Charon (à droite de Pluton, en bleu) et les nouveaux satellites en gris.
context_page_description: Nix is a natural satellite of Pluto, with a diameter of 49.8 km across its longest dimension. It was discovered along with Pluto's outermost moon Hydra in June 2005 by the Pluto Companion Search Team. It was named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night. Nix is the third moon of Pluto by distance, orbiting between the moons Styx and Kerberos.
  Nix was imaged along with Pluto and its other moons by the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by the Pluto system in July 2015. Images from the New Horizons spacecraft reveal a large reddish area on Nix that is likely an impact crater.
context_section_description: Nix was discovered by researchers of the Pluto Companion Search Team, using the Hubble Space Telescope. The New Horizons team had suspected that Pluto and its moon Charon might be accompanied with other moons, hence they used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for faint moons around Pluto in 2005. Since Nix's brightness is about 5,000 times fainter than Pluto, long exposure images were taken in order to find it.
  The discovery images were taken on 15 May 2005 and 18 May 2005. Nix and Hydra were independently discovered by Max J. Mutchler on 15 June 2005 and by Andrew J. Steffl on 15 August 2005. The discoveries were announced on 31 October 2005, after confirmation by precovering archival Hubble images of Pluto from 2002. The two newly announced moons of Pluto were subsequently provisionally designated S/2005 P 1 for Hydra and S/2005 P 2 for Nix. The moons were informally referred to as "P1" and "P2", respectively by the discovery team.
caption: Discovery images of Nix and Hydra
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