Charon

Charon is Pluto's largest moon by size among its five satellites.[1] Its diameter is approximately half Pluto's.[1] JPL lists Charon's mean radius as 606 kilometres.[2]

History

At the U.S. Naval Observatory, Robert Harrington and James Christy identified Charon in June 1978.[1] Charon takes its name from the mythological boatman who carried souls to Pluto.[3]

Findings

Pluto and Charon keep the same hemispheres facing one another.[1] NASA gives Charon's orbital period as 6.4 days.[1] On July 14, 2015, New Horizons sent back a view of Charon as it neared Pluto.[1]

Sources

  1. Charon | NASA Science. Licence: facts-only (Track B), no text or images reused. Attribution: NASA.
  2. Physical Parameters of Natural Satellites | NASA/JPL. Licence: facts-only (Track B), no text reused. Attribution: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
  3. Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature: Charon | USGS. Licence: US federal work, public domain (17 USC 105). Attribution: U.S. Geological Survey.

Evidence as of 2026-11-01.