This picture shows Pluto (left) and its big moon Charon (right).
Notice how big Charon is compared to Pluto. Notice how close
Charon is to Pluto. This picture was taken by the Hubble Space
Telescope in 1994. Click on image for full size Image courtesy
Dr. R. Albrecht (ESA/ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating
Facility) and NASA. The Moons of Pluto moons. One of the moons
is very large. The large moon is named Charon. The other two
moons are fairly small. They don't really have names yet. For
now they are called S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2. Charon is nearly as
big as Pluto. Some astronomers call Pluto and Charon a double
planet. James Christy discovered Charon in 1978. S/2005 P1 and
S/2005 P2 were discovered in 2005. A team of astronomers led by
Alan Stern and Harold Weaver found the moons. The team was
looking for new moons of Pluto using the Hubble Space Telescope.
They were getting ready for the New Horizons space mission to
Pluto. S/2005 P1 is about 150 km (93 miles) across. S/2005 P2 is
even smaller, abou