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A Journey to the End of Time

The Solar System in 3D, in real time

A simulation of the Solar System driven by real ephemerides. The Sun, the planets, Pluto and the major moons, space probes, the International Space Station, nearby stars and the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way are where they really are at the chosen moment. You can run time from 1700 to 2100, fly from one object to another and look at the sky from anywhere on Earth.

Charon

Moon of Pluto

Facts

Mean diameter
1212 km
Mean distance from Pluto
19,600 km
Orbital period
6.39 days
Discovery
James Christy and Robert Harrington, June 1978

Charon is Pluto's largest moon. Half the size of the dwarf planet, it is the largest satellite relative to its parent body that we know of. Pluto and Charon always show each other the same face: they are in mutual tidal locking.

The region around its north pole is reddish. New Horizons photographed it shortly before its close pass of Pluto on 14 July 2015.

One of its discoverers, James Christy, proposed the name of the ferryman who carried souls across the Acheron, partly because its first letters recalled the name of his wife, Charlene.

Sources