Nix Facts for Kids

A Picture of Pluto's Moon Nix
  • Moon Name: Nix
  • Designation: Pluto II
  • Date Discovered: June 15th, 2005
  • Discovered by: Pluto Companion Search Team
  • Average Orbit of Pluto: 30,257 mi
  • Longest Axis: 30.9 mi
  • Shortest Axis: 19.3 mi

12 Nix Facts for Kids

  1. Nix is one of Pluto’s five known moons (natural satellites).
  2. Nix is named after the Greek goddess Nyx, who was the goddess of night.
  3. Nix is also designated as Pluto II.
  4. Nix was discovered on June 15th, 2005 by the Pluto Companion Search Team.
  5. Nix was discovered using images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
  6. Nix was discovered on the same day Hydra, another moon orbiting Pluto.
  7. Nix completes an orbit around Pluto every 24.85 days.
  8. It’s estimated that Nix completes a full rotation every 43.9 hours.
  9. Nix is the third farthest moon from the dwarf planet Pluto.
  10. Nix is the third largest moon orbiting Pluto.
  11. Nix is estimated to be around 5,000 times fainter than Pluto.
  12. The NASA space probe New Horizons visited the Pluto system in 2015 and took images of Nix.

Additional Resources on Pluto’s moon Nix

  • Learn About Nix – Read more about Pluto’s moon Nix on the NASA Solar System Exploration website.
  • Nix Data and Stats – Find the latest data and statistics of the moon Nix on the NASA’s blog.
  • The Moons of Neptune – Discover more moons of the dwarf planet Pluto on the Britannica website.
  • Nix (Moon) – Wikipedia – Learn more about Nix, one of Pluto’s moons, on the Wikipedia website.

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