Charon and Pluto's Moons
Pluto has five moons, but Charon is the most intriguing of all, as it is 51% of Pluto's diameter, which is crazy huge in relation to its parent planet and puts it at the 12th largest moon in the solar system (Iapetus is 11th).
Charon Stats
Average Distance from Pluto: 15 596 km
Average Distance from Barycentre: 17 536 km Mass: 0.216 times Moon/0.123 times Pluto Diameter: 1212 km Temperature: -220 C Rotation: 153.293 hours/1 Pluto rotation Revolution: 6.387 Earth days/1 Charon rotation/1 Pluto rotation Namesake: Charon was the Greek daimon who helped souls get across the River Styx to the Underworld at the price of one silver coin. |
Plutonian Moons Facts
- CHARON HAS A DARK BROWN PATCH ON IT. You can see it on the image above. This patch that is 475 km in diameter is named Mordor Macula, after a place in J.R.R. Tolkien's book series The Lord of the Rings.
- CHARON IS PRONOUNCED "SHARE-ON." Even though the original pronunciation of the Greek figure Charon is "CARE-on," the moon/dwarf planet Charon is pronounced "SHARE-on." Why? When James W. Christy discovered Charon in 1978, he promised he would name it after his wife, Charlene. However, Charlene is not a mythological figure, let alone Greek/Roman mythological figure, and so was rejected. To make up for it, the pronunciation of Pluto's moon Charon was changed to "SHARE-on" to honour Christy's wife.
- CHARON HAS CRYOVOLCANOES, just like Pluto!
- THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE DISCOVERED PLUTO'S FOURTH AND FIFTH MOONS, Kerberos (2011) and Styx (2012). Until then, it was believed that Pluto had only 3 moons - Charon, Nix and Hydra.