Orbital Properties
The satellite orbits the barycenter of the system in the same plane as Charon and Nix, at a distance of about 65,000 km. Unlike other satellites of Pluto, its orbit is only nearly circular; its eccentricity of 0.0052 is small, but significantly non-zero. Its orbital period of 38.2 days is close to a 1:6 orbital resonance with Charon, with the timing discrepancy being 0.3%. Whether this is an actual resonance awaits more detailed determinations of its orbit, in particular its rate of precession. If there is no actual resonance, a hypothesis to explain the near-resonance is that it originated before the outward migration of Charon following the formation of all five known moons, and is maintained by the periodic local fluctuation of 5% in the Pluto–Charon gravitational field strength.
Read more about this topic: Hydra (moon)
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