[ Up ]

Charon is Pluto’s only known satellite (moon). Astronomers Jim Christy and Robert Harrington discovered Charon in 1978. It was named after the boatman in Greek mythology who operated the ferry across the River Styx to Pluto, the head of the underworld.

Since Charon and Pluto are always facing each other the same way it made it difficult to see Charon. Jim Christy first noticed it when he was looking over his photographs of Pluto. This is when he first saw a bump on the surface of Pluto. That bump turned out to be a moon orbiting Pluto.

Charon’s surface seems different from Pluto’s. Charon appears to be covered with water ice, not really a methane ice. Pluto and Charon orbit like a double planet. Each keeps the same hemisphere facing toward the other. Charon is almost half the size of Pluto and orbits the planet every 6.4 days.

There are photos of Pluto that were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that show rare images of the tiny planet Pluto with its moon Charon, which is slightly smaller than the planet.

It would be just about impossible for any form of life to live on Charon due to little sun light, no oxygen, and considering the temperature is around minus 400° F.