Before its size was directly measured, the moon was calculated to have a diameter of between 46 km, if its reflectivity is similar to Charon's 35%, and 137 km, if it had a reflectivity of 4%, like the darkest Kuiper belt objects. Nix is slightly fainter than Hydra, suggesting that it is somewhat smaller in size. In the discovery image, Nix is 6,300 times fainter than Pluto.