Charon (moon) - Wikipedia
Charon (/ ˈ k ɛər ɒ n,-ə n / KAIR-on, -ən or / ˈ ʃ ær ə n / SHARR-ən), [note 1] or (134340) Pluto I, is the largest of the five known natural satellites of the dwarf planet Pluto. It has a mean radius of 606 km (377 mi).
Charon - NASA Science
Charon is the largest of Pluto's five moons. At half the size of Pluto, Charon is the largest known satellite relative to its parent body. The same surfaces of Charon and Pluto always face each other, a phenomenon called mutual tidal locking. Charon orbits Pluto every 6.4 Earth days.
Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History
Oct 1, 2015 · High-resolution images of the Pluto-facing hemisphere of Charon, taken by New Horizons as the spacecraft sped through the Pluto system on July 14 and transmitted to Earth on Sept. 21, reveal details of a belt of fractures and canyons just north of the moon’s equator.
45 Years Ago: Astronomers Discover Pluto’s Moon Charon
Jun 23, 2023 · The discovery of Charon refined our understanding of Pluto’s size—a diameter of 1,477 miles and only 0.25 percent of Earth’s mass. Charon’s diameter of 753 miles makes it the largest moon relative to its home planet in the solar system, and astronomers consider the two as a double planet system orbiting around a common center of mass ...
Webb telescope reveals surprising details of Pluto's moon Charon
Oct 1, 2024 · Observations by the James Webb Space Telescope are giving scientists a fuller understanding about the composition and evolution of Pluto's moon Charon, the largest moon orbiting any of our...
Charon: Pluto's Largest Moon | Space
Feb 24, 2016 · Among the five moons of Pluto, it is the largest, Charon, that makes the dwarf planet unique. Charon is so big that, with Pluto, the pair are considered a binary planet system.
Pluto and its Moon Charon - NASA Science
Aug 1, 2022 · In our own solar system, Pluto and its moon Charon (grey) have already become tidally locked to one another ― just as Earth and the Moon would someday sync up if given enough time.
Pluto and Charon: Strikingly Different Worlds - Science@NASA
Jul 14, 2015 · Pluto and Charon: Strikingly Different Worlds. This composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015.
Five Years after New Horizons’ Historic Flyby, Here Are 10 ... - NASA
Jul 14, 2020 · After a voyage of nearly 10 years and more than 3 billion miles, the intrepid piano-sized probe flew within 7,800 miles of Pluto. For the first time ever, we saw the surface of this distant world in spectacular, colored detail.
James Webb Space Telescope Reveals New Clues About Pluto’s Icy Moon Charon
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made a groundbreaking discovery on Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, detecting carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on its frozen surface. These findings...