Astronomy: Charon

Charon

Charon ( KAIR-on, -⁠ən or SHARR-ən), formal designation (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).

Commentary

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

Charon Charon ( KAIR-on, -⁠ən or SHARR-ən), formal designation (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 is a planetary-mass moon and the sixth-largest known trans-Neptunian object after Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Gonggong.

Commentary

Source: Internal

Why Charon matters: Understanding our cosmic neighbourhood helps us learn about planetary formation, the conditions for life, and ultimately our place in the universe. It was discovered in 1978 at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., using photographic plates taken at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS). With half the diameter and one-eighth the mass of Pluto, Charon is a very large moon in comparison to its parent body. Its gravitational influence is such that the barycenter of the Plutonian system lies outside Pluto, and the two bodies are tidally locked to each other. The dwarf planet systems Pluto–Charon and Eris–Dysnomia and the dwarf planet candidate system Salacia–Actaea are the only known examples of mutual tidal locking in the Solar System, though it is likely that Orcus–Vanth is another. The reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon is composed of tholins, organic macromolecules that may be essential ingredients of life. These tholins were produced from methane, nitrogen, and related gases which may have been released by cryovolcanic eruptions on the moon, or may have been transferred over 19,000 km (12,000 mi) from the atmosphere of Pluto to the orbiting moon. The New Horizons spacecraft, the only probe to visit the Pluto system, approached Charon to within 27,000 km (17,000 mi) in 2015.

Commentary

Source: Internal

Deep dive: Charon With half the diameter and one-eighth the mass of Pluto, Charon is a very large moon in comparison to its parent body. Its gravitational influence is such that the barycenter of the Plutonian system lies outside Pluto, and the two bodies are tidally locked to each other. The dwarf planet systems Pluto–Charon and Eris–Dysnomia and the dwarf planet candidate system Salacia–Actaea are the only known examples of mutual tidal locking in the Solar System, though it is likely that Orcus–Vanth is another. The reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon is composed of tholins, organic macromolecules that may be essential ingredients of life. These tholins were produced from methane, nitrogen, and related gases which may have been released by cryovolcanic eruptions on the moon, or may have been transferred over 19,000 km (12,000 mi) from the atmosphere of Pluto to the orbiting moon. The New Horizons spacecraft, the only probe to visit the Pluto system, approached Charon to within 27,000 km (17,000 mi) in 2015. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)