Physical Properties
Although its size has not been directly measured, calculations based on its brightness give it a diameter of between 61 km (if its geometric albedo is similar to Charon's 35%) and about 167 km (if it has a reflectivity of 4% like the darkest Kuiper belt objects). At the time of discovery, Hydra was about 25 percent brighter than its sister moon Nix, which led to the assumption that its diameter was some 10 percent larger. Pre-discovery data from Hubble observations in 2002–03 implied that Nix was the brighter moon. However, Hubble observations in 2005–06, specifically targeting the dim moons, once again showed Hydra to be a little brighter. Hydra appears to be spectrally neutral like Charon and Nix, whereas Pluto is reddish.
Read more about this topic: Hydra (moon)
Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or properties:
“I have often been reproached with the aridity of my genius; a deficiency of imagination has been imputed to me as a crime; and the Pyrrhonism of my opinions has at all times rendered me notorious. Indeed, a strong relish for physical philosophy has, I fear, tinctured my mind with a very common error of this age—I mean the habit of referring occurrences, even the least susceptible of such reference, to the principles of that science.”
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