Charon, Charon [Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute]CharonNASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institutelargest moon of the dwarf planet Pluto. It was discovered telescopically on June 22, 1978, by James W. Christy and Robert S. Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory station in Flagstaff, Arizona. Its diameter—1,208 km (751 miles)—is a little more than half that of Pluto, and its mass is more than one-tenth of Pluto’s mass. Charon is so large and massive with respect to Pluto that some scientists prefer to think of the two bodies as a double system. The moon was named for Charon, the ferryman of dead souls to the realm of Hades (the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Pluto) in Greek mythology.

Pluto; Charon [Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Library/Southwest Research Institute]Pluto; CharonNASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Library/Southwest Research InstituteCharon orbits Pluto in 6.3873 Earth days, following a circular path with a radius of 19,640 km (12,200 miles). Because gravitational (tidal) interactions between the two bodies have synchronized Charon’s orbital period with the rotation period of Pluto, Charon always faces the same hemisphere of Pluto. In addition, Charon always shows the same hemisphere to Pluto, because (like many other moons) its rotation period is identical to its orbital period.

Moons of Pluto
name mean distance from centre of Pluto (orbital radius; km) orbital period
(sidereal period;
Earth days)
inclination of
orbit to planet’s equator (degrees)
of orbit
Charon 17,536 6.387 0 0.0022
Styx 42,000 20.2
Nix 48,708 24.86 0.195 0.003
Kerberos 59,000 32.1
Hydra 64,749 38.2 0.212 0.0051
name rotation period (Earth days)* radius or radial
dimensions (km)
(1020 kg)
mean density
Charon sync. 604 15 1.63
Styx 10–25
Nix 44 0.0058
Kerberos 13–34
Hydra 36 0.0032

Prior to the flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015, all information about this distant system had come from observations made from Earth. Spectral analysis of light reflected from Charon reveals that its surface is covered primarily by water ice, a sharp contrast to the frozen methane that is so prevalent on Pluto. The relatively low reflectivity of Charon (average albedo about 0.35) suggests that other, darker materials such as cometary dust must be present. Since the 1990s Pluto and Charon have come to be regarded as giant members of the Kuiper belt, a ring of icy, cometary objects that lies beyond Neptune’s orbit.

Pluto; Charon; Nix; Hydra [Credit: HST Pluto Companion Search/ESA/NASA]Pluto; Charon; Nix; HydraHST Pluto Companion Search/ESA/NASACharon was the only known moon of Pluto until 2005, when astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope discovered two comparatively tiny objects revolving around Pluto outside Charon’s orbit.

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