THE TINY MOON
Styx is one of Pluto's five known moons.
It was discovered in 2012 using the
Hubble Space Telescope.
The moon is extremely small and has
an irregular shape. Its name comes from
the River Styx in Greek mythology, the
river that separated the world of the
living from the realm of the dead.
Styx orbits Pluto between the orbits
of Charon and Nix.
The moon is part of a remarkably
complex system in which Pluto and
Charon orbit a common centre of mass,
while the smaller moons travel around
both bodies.
New Horizons observed the Pluto system
during its historic flyby in 2015, although
Styx was too small and distant for detailed
surface imaging.
~16 × 9 × 8 km
APPROXIMATE DIMENSIONS
20.2 DAYS
ORBITAL PERIOD
~42,700 km
AVERAGE DISTANCE FROM PLUTO
2012
DISCOVERED
IRREGULAR
SHAPE
4TH
MOON FROM PLUTO
STYX FEATURES
TINY WORLD
Styx is one of the smallest known
moons in the Pluto system, measuring
only a few kilometres across.
COMPLEX ORBIT
Styx travels around the Pluto-Charon
system and is strongly affected by
their combined gravitational field.
HUBBLE
Styx was discovered in 2012 in
observations made with the Hubble
Space Telescope.
DID YOU KNOW?
Styx is so small that its estimated
size is only about 16 kilometres
along its longest dimension.
ORBONIX · SOLAR SYSTEM
PLUTO SYSTEM · STYX
PLUTO SYSTEM · STYX