Pluto May Have 10 Additional Moons Shrouded by Clouds of Dust, Says NASA

NASA researchers preparing for a spacecraft's flyby of Pluto say the distant dwarf planet at the edge of the solar system may have more moons than previously thought.

Researchers working with NASA's New Horizon mission team say they may need to rethink the spacecraft's route after simulation findings uncovered a possibility that Pluto may have ten additional moons, according to The Space Reporter. The simulation shows that moons ranging in size from 0.6 miles to 1.8 miles across may disrupt the flyby which is scheduled for 2015.

Researchers say the moons are too small to be seen from powerful telescopes on Earth adding that they are probably engulfed in clouds of dust. If researchers are somehow able to detect the moons that would give Pluto a total of fourteen.

"We've found more and more moons orbiting near Pluto - the count is now up to five," Dr. Alan Stern, principal investigator of the New Horizons mission and an associate vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute told The Space Reporter at the time. "And we've come to appreciate that those moons, and those not yet discovered there, act as debris generators that populate the Pluto system with shards from small, colliding Kuiper Belt objects."

Researchers admit they are not capable of fully mapping the debris field orbiting Pluto. As it approaches the New Horizon spacecraft may spot some of the large objects but will not be able to detect smaller debris until it arrives, researchers say.

The New Horizon flyby is expected in July 2015.