14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest data relayed to Earth by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, it would appear that Pluto may have five moons, instead of the four recognized thus far. The new finding comes about a year after the July 2011 discovery of the dwarf planet's fourth moon, called P4.
“Just announced: Pluto has some company – We've discovered a 5th moon using the Hubble Space Telescope!” said on Twitter earlier today Alan Stern, the principal investigator of the NASA New Horizons mission to Pluto. He is based at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Until today, Pluto was known to have only 4 moons – Charon, Nix, Hydra and P4, with the former being by far the largest (648 miles or 1,043 kilometers across) and the latter the smallest, around 8 to 21 miles (13 to 34 kilometers) wide. The newly-announced moon appears to be the size of P4.
The finding is very important for the New Horizons mission, which was launched in 2006, and is scheduled to become the first spacecraft ever to visit Pluto, in early 2015. Once it arrives, it will either confirm or infirm the existence of the two moons Hubble found, Space reports.