S/2012 P 1 (also known as S/2012 (134340) 1 or P5) is a small natural satellite of Pluto whose existence was announced on 11 July 2012. It is the fifth satellite of Pluto to be confirmed, and was found approximately one year after S/2011 P 1, Pluto's fourth discovered moon.

Discovery

The moon was discovered using nine sets of images taken between 26 June and 9 July 2012 by the Wide Field Camera 3 fitted to the Hubble Space Telescope. The survey work leading to the moon's discovery was in preparation for the arrival of the New Horizons space probe, currently en route to the Pluto system.

The discovery of a new, small moon led to concerns that the region of space may harbor many more bodies that are too small to be detected, raising fears that the probe may be damaged by an uncharted body as it passes through the system. It is speculated that the unexpectedly complex moon system around Pluto is the result of a collision between Pluto and another Kuiper belt object in the distant past.

Physical characteristics

The moon is estimated to have a diameter of between 10 and 25 kilometers (6 and 16 mi). These figures are inferred from the apparent magnitude of the moon and by using an estimated albedo of 0.35 and 0.04 for the lower and upper bounds respectively.

S/2012 P 1's orbital period is estimated to be 20.2 +/- 0.1 days, putting it about 5.4% from a 1:3 resonance with the Charon–Pluto orbital period. With Pluto's other moons Nix, S/2011 P 1 and Hydra, it forms part of a 1:3:4:5:6 sequence of near resonances.

Salient Features
Discovery
Discovered by Showalter, M. R. et al.
Discovery date 26 June 2012 (verified 7 July 2012)
Detection method Photographic

Orbital characteristics
Mean orbit radius 42,000 km (26,000 mi) +/- 2,000 km (1,200 mi)
Eccentricity ≈ 0
Orbital period 20.2 +/- 0.1 days
Inclination ≈ 0
Satellite of Pluto

Physical characteristics
Mean radius 5–12.5 km (3–8 mi)

A team of astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope discovered another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto.

The moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and 6-15 miles across. It is in a 58,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto that is assumed to be co-planar with the other satellites in the system

http://www.nasa.gov/

Firstly thanks for providing latest information.
Plz correct me if i am wrong. I think Hubble has discovered 4rth moon not fifth

@virogan

thnx for your interest,sir it's fifth moon thats why i have placed link of nasa

once again i am placing the link plz visit it

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hu...luto-moon.html

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite – temporarily designated P4 -- was uncovered in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.
Plz check it, It is 4rth not fifth.

sir please see the provided link

it's 5th moon sir iam pasting the text from the above link

Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto07.11.12 A team of astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is reporting the discovery of another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto.

The moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and 6 to 15 miles across. It is in a 58,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto that is assumed to be co-planar with the other satellites in the system.




This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, shows five moons orbiting the distant, icy dwarf planet Pluto. The green circle marks the newly discovered moon, designated P5, as photographed by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on July 7. The observations will help scientists in their planning for the July 2015 flyby of Pluto by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. P4 was uncovered in Hubble imagery in 2011. (Credit: NASA; ESA; M. Showalter, SETI Institute)
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“The moons form a series of neatly nested orbits, a bit like Russian dolls,” said team lead Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

The discovery increases the number of known moons orbiting Pluto to five. The Pluto team is intrigued that such a small planet can have such a complex collection of satellites. The new discovery provides additional clues for unraveling how the Pluto system formed and evolved. The favored theory is that all the moons are relics of a collision between Pluto and another large Kuiper belt object billions of years ago.

The new detection will help scientists navigate NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft through the Pluto system in 2015, when it makes an historic and long-awaited high-speed flyby of the distant world.

The team is using Hubble’s powerful vision to scour the Pluto system to uncover potential hazards to the New Horizons spacecraft. Moving past the dwarf planet at a speed of 30,000 miles per hour, New Horizons could be destroyed in a collision with even a BB-shot-size piece of orbital debris.

“The discovery of so many small moons indirectly tells us that there must be lots of small particles lurking unseen in the Pluto system,” said Harold Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

“The inventory of the Pluto system we're taking now with Hubble will help the New Horizons team design a safer trajectory for the spacecraft,” added Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., the mission’s principal investigator.

Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, was discovered in 1978 in observations made at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Hubble observations in 2006 uncovered two additional small moons, Nix and Hydra. In 2011 another moon, P4, was found in Hubble data.

Provisionally designated S/2012 (134340) 1, the latest moon was detected in nine separate sets of images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 on June 26, 27, 29, and July 7 and 9.
In the years following the New Horizons Pluto flyby, astronomers plan to use the infrared vision of Hubble’s planned successor, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, for follow-up observations. The Webb telescope will be able to measure the surface chemistry of Pluto, its moons, and many other bodies that lie in the distant Kuiper Belt along with Pluto.

The Pluto Team members are M. Showalter (SETI Institute), H.A. Weaver (Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University), and S.A. Stern, A.J. Steffl, and M.W. Buie (Southwest Research Institute).

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.

Five moons of pluto are Charon (over half the size of the planet it orbits and is mutually locked), Nix, Hydra, P4 (designated S/2011 P 1, discovered last year) and P5 (designated S/2012 P 1, discovered on 11 July 2012 using Wide Field Camera 3 fitted on Hubble Space Telescope).

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