PLUTO'S TWO NEWLY DISCOVERED MOONS GOT OFFICIAL ASTRONOMICAL NAMES OF NIX AND HYDRA, SCIENTISTS WHO HELPED DETECT THEM SAID ON THURSDAY, ACCORDING TO REUTERS. THE OFFICIAL DESIGNATIONS FOR THE SECOND AND THIRD MOONS AROUND THE DISTANT PLANET WERE APPROVED THIS WEEK BY THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION, WHICH DEALS WITH COSMIC BODIES' NAMES. NIX AND HYDRA WERE DISCOVERED IN MAY 2005 BY A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS USING THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, IN SUPPORT OF A NASA MISSION CALLED NEW HORIZONS, WHICH IS EXPECTED TO FLY BY PLUTO IN 2015. HYDRA AND NIX ARE ABOUT TWO TO THREE TIMES AS FAR FROM PLUTO AS ITS LARGE MOON, CHARON, WHICH WAS DISCOVERED IN 1978, THE SCIENTISTS SAID IN A STATEMENT. NIX GETS ITS NAME FROM THE MYTHICAL GODDESS OF DARKNESS AND NIGHT. HYDRA IS A MONSTER WITH THE BODY OF A NINE-HEADED SERPENT, SEEN AS APPROPRIATE FOR THE OUTERMOST MOON OF PLUTO, THE NINTH PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
