Tireless space telescope Hubble discovered the fifth moon of Pluto, which was designated as P5, according to NASA. She's just a crumb - diameter P5 is from 15 to 24 kilometers.



"We have not yet finished the search, quoted by the Associated Press Harold weaver of the Johns Hopkins University in the US. - Opening of such a large number of small satellites indirectly tells us that their system of Pluto may hide many more".

Astronomers are surprised that such a small planet can have such a complex system satellites. "This discovery gives an additional clue, how it is formed and develops the system of dwarf planets. Also, the new data will help to plan the trajectory of the probe, New Horizons that will explore Pluto in 2015", - the report says NASA.

Recall that in 2006 the international astronomical Union demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet. Two years later, astronomers have introduced a special term for such a small celestial bodies, and Pluto was the first plutoids.



It is the largest satellite, Charon, with a diameter of more than 1000 km, was opened in 1978. Two more satellites - nix and Hydra, which were discovered in 2006, - have a diameter of 32 and 113 km away respectively. In the past, astronomers have discovered a fourth moon dwarf planet, when in the framework of the mission on search of the rings Pluto analyzed obtained with Hubble data. The satellite was named P4 and till now was considered to be the smallest moon of Pluto (its diameter varies from 13 to 34 kilometers).