| Charon |
|
The only known satellite of the remote planet Pluto, discovered by J. Christy in 1978, as a
slight elongation in the image of Pluto on a photograph taken at the US Naval Observatory.
With a diameter of 1,200 kilometres (740 miles), it is about half the size of Pluto. The orbital period is 6.39 days, which is also the rotation period of both Pluto and Charon.
The spectrum of Charon indicates the presence of water ice, but not of methane, which is present on Pluto. See also: Table 6. |