Image: Hydra, Nix, Styx conjunctions cycle

Description: This series of diagrams depicts the conjunctions that occur in one cycle of the movements of Pluto's moons Hydra (blue), Nix (red) and Styx (black), as controlled by their mutual orbital resonance. The view is from the north pole of the system, and all motions are counterclockwise. The movements shown are actually a composite of orbital motion and orbital precession. Libration is disregarded. Numbers in the upper right corners of diagrams indicate the number of orbits completed by each moon since the first diagram (a full cycle consists of 6 Hydra orbits, 9 Nix orbits, 11 Styx orbits, 2 Nix–Styx conjunctions, 3 Hydra–Nix conjunctions and 5 Hydra–Styx conjunctions, and would be represented by a return to the first diagram). Notice that there are no triple conjunctions. All orbits in the Pluto system are shown to scale, but sizes of moons are not. The diagrams were created using Wolfram Mathematica according to the results reported in Showalter, M. R.; Hamilton, D. P. (3 June 2015). "Resonant interactions and chaotic rotation of Pluto’s small moons". Nature 522 (7554): 45–49. doi:10.1038/nature14469.
Usage Terms: Public domain