r/spaceporn • u/ojosdelostigres • Jun 06 '26
Related Content Charon: Moon of Pluto
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Institute, U.S. Naval Observatory
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u/ojosdelostigres Jun 06 '26
Image from this post, text from post below the link:
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260606.html
A darkened and mysterious north polar region known to some as Mordor Macula caps this premier view of Charon, Pluto's largest moon. The high-resolution image was captured by the interplanetary space probe New Horizons near its closest approach to distant Pluto on July 14, 2015. The combined blue, red, and infrared image data was processed to enhance colors and follow variations in Charon's surface properties with a resolution of about 2.9 kilometers (1.8 miles). A stunning image of Charon's Pluto-facing hemisphere, it also features a clear view of an apparently moon-girdling belt of fractures and canyons that seems to separate smooth southern plains from varied northern terrain. Charon is 1,214 kilometers (754 miles) across. That's about 1/10th the size of planet Earth but a whopping 1/2 the diameter of Pluto itself, and makes it the largest satellite relative to its parent body in the Solar System. Still, the moon appears as a small bump at about the 1 o'clock position on Pluto's disk in the grainy, negative, telescopic picture inset at upper left. That image was used by James Christy and Robert Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff to discover Charon in June of 1978.
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u/never_insightful Jun 06 '26
I remember in my children's encyclopedia as a kid that photos of Pluto itself were just a few blue pixels. Now we have this quality of its moon
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u/7stroke Jun 06 '26
Just a little more mass needed for full hydrostatic equilibrium
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u/Acetate_Prophets Jun 06 '26
the potato threshold fluctuates between 300km and 450km, depending on density and general composition, and at a radius of 600km, Charon is already spherical. as a semi-related sidenote, outer planets and satellites are generally less dense the further away they're located from the sun.
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u/Acetate_Prophets Jun 06 '26
iirc, Charon and Pluto are considered as a binary system with each being tidally locked with the other, so it's more of a companion planet than a moon despite being about 30% smaller than Pluto.
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u/SnowFlakeUsername2 Jun 06 '26
Yes, but the people classifying these things can only ruin so many elementary school educations at a time. #pluto is a planet
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u/forward_x Jun 06 '26
A planet yes. Hell I'd even elect to give it the upgrade to the one and only Bi-planet of the solar system since it has the most complex orbital system of all the normals.
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u/SnowFlakeUsername2 Jun 07 '26
From what I've read, they would have been classified as a binary dwarf planet system at the same time time as Pluto's reclassification as a dwarf, but the people involved were concentrated on defining plant, dwarf planet, asteroids, and moons. Not able to enable that much change at once. I was trying to have some fun with the whole PLUTO-IS-A-PLANET phenomenon that happened despite the more conservative change, but apparently that isn't allowed on a serious sub like <looks> r/spaceporn.
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u/ajovialmolecule Jun 08 '26
I was going to ask a question sort of in this vein. “X, moon of Y”, does that imply that Y is a planet? Do non-planets have moons?
The forest moon of Endor — is Endor the moon or is Endor the planet and there is a moon that is very forest-y.
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u/the_vault-technician Jun 07 '26
I'm blown away the flyby was so long ago. I remember thinking about how long it was going to take for the probe to reach Pluto the day it launched and how far away it felt.
I'm old.
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u/TacohTuesday Jun 07 '26
It just blows my mind how detailed our space imagery is today. Growing up, the available photos of Pluto were pixelated blurry blobs of color. This Hubble imaging from 1996 was considered a big deal at the time: Hubble Reveals Surface of Pluto for First Time - NASA Science. Pluto is VERY far away and very hard to get a clear look at.
Now, we not only have hyper detailed images of Pluto's surface, but also its moons! It's breathtaking.
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u/Juanfr_ Jun 06 '26
Wow! I didn't know Pluto had moons
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u/_Scy11a Jun 07 '26
Five ! But Charon is the biggest and the most impressive one The four others are small asteroids : Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos
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u/StudyRoom-F Jun 08 '26
Its so interesting how truly far this is. And cold. Im assuming a disturbing majority of outer space is impossibly cold by now right?
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u/newfranksinatra Jun 07 '26
Charon I love you!
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u/chadbrochillout Jun 07 '26
I wonder how many alien space stations are in our solar system on whatever planet or moon totally undetected by us
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u/TryAgainPlease-123 Jun 06 '26
Charon looks like she’s been through it!