Scientists have detected carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on the frozen surface of Pluto’s largest…
Browsing: Charon
Charon is the largest moon of Pluto, discovered in 1978 by American astronomer James Christy. It is named after the mythological ferryman who transported souls across the river Styx in the underworld. Charon is unique because it is unusually large relative to Pluto, being about half the size of the dwarf planet itself. This size relationship makes Pluto-Charon the only known binary system in the Solar System where both bodies orbit a point in space outside either body, known as the barycenter. Charon’s surface features, including canyons, craters, and varied terrains, have been revealed in more detail by NASA’s New Horizons mission, which flew by the Pluto system in 2015. The moon has a mostly water-ice composition with a surface marked by a mix of water and ammonia ices, hinting at geological activity in its past. The gravitational interactions between Pluto and Charon have led to tidal locking, so the same side of Charon always faces Pluto.
Research combined spacecraft data with new lab experiments and models of Pluto’s largest moon. Southwest…
Before NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew through the Pluto system in July 2015, many New…
Legendary explorers and visionaries, real and fictitious, are among those immortalized by the IAU in…
Using data from New Horizons and digital elevation models of Pluto and its largest moon…
New research reveals that Charon’s reddish polar coloring comes from Pluto itself. In June 2015,…
Images from NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft reveal an unusual canyon system that’s far longer and…
Astronomers at the University of Rochester have developed a new model that could offer a…
New images from the New Horizons Spacecraft suggest that Pluto’s moon Charon once had a…
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft has captured images of Pluto and Charon completing the rotation of…
Astronomers have discovered a striking contrast between one of the fresh craters on Pluto’s largest…
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft provides a close-up view of Pluto’s moon Charon. The sweeping mosaic…
New images from NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft are the highest resolution images yet of Pluto’s…
An updated portrait of Pluto and Charon from NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft. The latest two…
This new image from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager reveals new details of Pluto’s…
These new false color images from the New Horizons Spacecraft reveal that Pluto and Charon…
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft has only just reached Pluto, but it has already solved a…
Another day, another great set of images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager showing…