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Topic: Charon (moon)

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	Charon
		During the 1980's, Earth crossed the orbital plane of Charon and a series of mutual events were observed that significantly enhanced the study of the Pluto-Charon system.
		It was fortunate that Charon's discovery was made prior to the mutual events, considering that the sun crosses the orbital plane of Charon only twice during a single Plutonian year.
		It is thought possible that Charon, Neptunes' moon Triton, and Pluto are icy worlds of the outer solar system that were not swept up by Uranus and Neptune or ejected from the solar system.
	www.solarviews.com /eng/charon.htm (713 words)

	Charon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		In Greek mythology, Charon (Greek Χάρων, fierce brightness) was the ferryman of Hades.
		Corpses in ancient Greece were always buried with a coin underneath their tongue to pay Charon.
		Charon was the son of Erebus and Nyx.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Charon (268 words)

	Charon (moon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Charon (shair'-ən or kair'-ən, IPA /ˈʃɛərən, ˈkɛərən/, Greek Χάρων), or Pluto I, is the largest satellite of Pluto.
		Christy chose the name "Charon" for the moon, and this was officially accepted by the IAU in 1985.
		In Greek mythology, Charon was the ferryman of the dead, a figure with close ties to the god Pluto.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Charon_(moon) (736 words)

	Encyclopedia: Pluto (planet)
		The discovery of Charon allowed astronomers to determine the mass of the Pluto-Charon pair from their observed orbital period and separation by a straightforward application of Kepler's third law of planetary motion.
		Charon's discovery also resulted in the calculation of Pluto's albedo being revised upward; since the planet was now seen as being far smaller than originally estimated, by necessity its capacity to reflect light must be greater than what had been formerly believed.
		The last remaining distinguishing feature of Pluto is now its large moon, Charon, and its atmosphere; these characteristics may not, however, be unique to Pluto: several other transneptunian objects (not including Sedna) are known to have satellites; and 2003 UB 's spectrum suggests that it has a similar surface composition to Pluto.
	www.nationmaster.com /encyclopedia/Pluto-(planet) (9067 words)

	Charon (moon) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Charon is the only known satellite of Pluto.
		Charon was discovered by astronomer James Christy[?] in 1978 using photographic plates which showed a bulge moving around Pluto.
		Charon's diameter is 1,172 kilometers (728 miles), just under half the size of Pluto.
	www.websign.sk /ch/Charon_(moon).html (243 words)

	Pluto
		Charon is named for the mythological figure who ferried the dead across the River Acheron into Hades (the underworld).
		Charon is unusual in that it is the largest moon with respect to its primary planet in the Solar System (a distinction once held by Earth's Moon).
		Charon's composition is unknown, but its low density (about 2 gm/cm3) indicates that it may be similar to Saturn's icy moons (i.e.
	www.seds.org /nineplanets/nineplanets/pluto.html (1517 words)

	Pluto's moon charon
		Moons and their planets always share a common enter of mass, but it usually lies deep inside the parent planet.
		This is not the case for Pluto and Charon: their center of mass lies between the two worlds, and it is this center of mass that orbits the sun.
		Charon is now known to consist of slightly different materials than Pluto -- another plus for the collision theory of its origin -- and it’s suspected to have a very tenuous atmosphere.
	fl.essortment.com /plutocharonmoo_rmgd.htm (1480 words)

	BBC - Science & Nature - Space - Charon
		Charon is a frozen world which is probably made up of water and nitrogen ices.
		Charon is not visible from the Earth with the naked eye, and can only just be spotted with an amateur telescope.
		Charon was discovered in 1978 by James Christy who named the moon after his wife, Charlene.
	www.bbc.co.uk /science/space/solarsystem/pluto/charon.shtml (311 words)

	USATODAY.com - Size of Pluto's moon Charon pinned down (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Charon is the largest known moon in relation to the size of its host planet.
		Charon's density is 1.71 times that of water, which suggests its icy contents are just more than 50% rock, and about 10% less rock by mass than Pluto.
		If Charon has one, the new observations indicate, its pressure would be less than one-sixth of a millionth of the air pressure at the surface of the Earth.
	www.usatoday.com /tech/science/space/2006-01-04-charon-size_x.htm?csp=34 (417 words)

	SparkNotes: Pluto: The Pluto-Charon System
		This is not a coincidence: Pluto and Charon may have had quite different periods of rotation and revolution when they first became a planet-moon system, but tides between the two bodies probably eventually equalized the periods to the value we measure today.
		Charon is so close to Pluto that the force of gravity exerted by these two bodies on each other is quite uneven, with the closest side attracted more than the farthest side.
		The similarities between Pluto and Charon, and the fact that Charon is quite a large moon, suggest that the formation of this moon might be the consequence of an unusual mechanism.
	www.sparknotes.com /astronomy/pluto/section3.rhtml (957 words)

	Pluto and Charon
		Charon (the ch is pronounced like in chaos) was discovered in 1978 when photographs of Pluto showed a "bump" on one side.
		Charon is appropriately named after the ferryman who carried the souls of the dead across the Styx, a river in the lower world.
		The rotation of Pluto has to be considered along with the revolution and rotation of its moon Charon, because the gravitational and the tidal forces that they exert on each other affect the rotation of both, as well as Charon's orbit around Pluto.
	www.mira.org /fts0/planets/101/text/txt201x.htm (1094 words)

	Moon Facts and Pictures - Explore the Cosmos \| The Planetary Society
		In false-color images of the Moon from the Galileo and Clementine spacecraft, these high-titanium basalts show up as a brilliant blue, contrasting sharply with the yellow and orange color that represents the ordinary iron-containing basalts of the other maria and the deep reds of the ancient, weathered, iron-poor highlands.
		The Moon is a standout in the solar system for its large size relative to its planet.
		The large size of the Moon, the relatively small size of its metal core, its chemical similarities and differences to Earth, and the characteristics of its orbit around Earth, suggest a dramatic theory for its origin.
	www.planetary.org /explore/topics/our_solar_system/the_moon/facts.html (1403 words)

	Sea and Sky's Tour of the Solar System: Pluto & Charon
		Charon was named after the mythological figure who ferried the dead across the river Styx to Hades.
		This moon, Charon, is more than half the size of its parent planet.
		Some believe that Pluto and Charon may be asteroids or comets that somehow got locked into an orbit around the Sun.
	www.seasky.org /solarsystem/sky3j.html (696 words)

	Tour the Solar System and Beyond - Pluto and Charon (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Charon, which is almost half the size of Pluto, orbits the planet every 6.4 days, at an altitude of about 18,300 kilometers.
		Charon's surface differs from Pluto's; it is covered with dirty water ice and doesn't reflect as much light as Pluto's surface.
		One leading theory suggests that Pluto and Charon are relics of a population of hundreds or thousands of similar bodies that were formed early in solar system history.
	spacekids.hq.nasa.gov /osskids/animate/pluto.html (825 words)

	NASA's Solar System Exploration: Planets: Pluto: Moons: Charon
		Charon was discovered in 1978, while two additional moons Hydra and Nix, were discovered in 2005.
		In Greek mythology, Charon was the boatman who carried the souls of the dead to the underworld - a kingdom that in Roman mythology was ruled by the god, Pluto.
		Charon appears to be covered by water ice, which differs from Pluto's surface of frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide.
	solarsystem.nasa.gov /planets/profile.cfm?Object=Plu_Charon (413 words)

	On This and Other Moons
		If the sizes of the moons are expressed relative to their primary (the planet they orbit) there are still more surprises.
		Being close to Jupiter (it is the innermost of the Galilean moons) the planet's massive gravity stretches the moon by some 100m and locks its rotation so the same side always faces the planet.
		But nearby moons Europa and Ganymede peturb it when they pass, making the tidal bulges shift and heating the Io's interior with the friction of the flexing.
	www.inconstantmoon.com /cyc_moon.htm (1127 words)

	Moon Miners' Manifesto: Pluto-Charon Cable Car
		Pluto and its moon, Charon, are both tidally locked bodies, with one face of Charon facing Pluto, as our own Moon does to Earth.
		Such a cable car might be valuable at Pluto because of the vastly decreased solar power available for energetic transport by photovoltaically synthesized chemical fuels, and may be worth the use of the iron, (perhaps) a rare substance on Pluto.
		Moon Miners' Manifesto is published 10 times a year by the Lunar Reclamation Society for Artemis Society International, several chapters of the National Space Society, and individual subscribers world-wide.
	www.asi.org /adb/06/09/03/02/097/pluto-charon.html (527 words)

	Universe Today - Charon Passes in Front of a Star
		On the night of July 10/11, Pluto's moon Charon briefly passed in front of a distant star - this is called an occultation.
		Charon is small, so it doesn't have much gravity to hold an atmosphere, but it's so cold that some gasses could be held in place.
		Watching Charon approach the star and then snuff it out was spectacular," said Elliot, a professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science and the Department of Physics at MIT in Cambridge, Mass.
	www.universetoday.com /am/publish/mit_williams_catch_light_pluto.html?2072005 (838 words)

	Inconstant Moon: The Moon at Perigee and Apogee
		Inconstant Moon: The Moon at Perigee and Apogee
		This is not an insignificant consideration: an observer at the equator observing the Moon at zenith is 1.8% closer to the Moon's limb than an observer 90° east or west in longitude, watching the Moon set or rise at the same moment.
		Since the Moon was, at that moment, south of the equator as seen from Earth, an observer in the northern hemisphere was additionally displaced northward and could see farther past the north pole of the Moon.
	www.fourmilab.ch /earthview/moon_ap_per.html (3343 words)

	Phases of Pluto's Moon
		That means Pluto always presents the same face toward Charon and Charon always presents the same face toward Pluto.
		Charon has the same type of orbit we use here near the Earth for communication satellites.
		At "new" moon, Charon would be directly in front of the Sun and we'd see an eclipse.
	www.lowell.edu /users/buie/pluto/chphases.html (816 words)

	Pluto’s moon gets its best measurement - Space.com - MSNBC.com
		In this artist's concept, Pluto and its moon Charon are seen from the surface of one of Pluto's newly discovered candidate satellites.
		Charon’s density is 1.71 times that of water, which suggests its icy contents are just more than 50 percent rock, and about 10 percent less rock by mass than Pluto.
		If Charon has one, the new observations indicate, its pressure would be less than one-sixth of a millionth of the air pressure at Earth's surface.
	www.msnbc.msn.com /id/10708947/from/RL.1 (504 words)

	ScienceDaily: Pluto-Charon Origin May Mirror That Of Earth And Its Moon
		The final moon contains 12.5% of the planet's mass, and the resulting binary is consistent with the overall properties of the Pluto-Charon pair.
		Kuiper Belt Moons Are Starting To Seem Typical (January 17, 2006) -- In the not-too-distant past, the planet Pluto was thought to be an odd bird in the outer reaches of the solar system because it has a moon, Charon, that was formed much like Earth's own moon was...
		Charon (moon) -- Charon, or Pluto I, is the largest satellite of Pluto.
	www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2005/02/050214103330.htm (1759 words)

	Charon Anniversary Press Release (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		On 7 July 1978, the discovery was formally announced to the astronomical community and the world by the IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams via IAU Circular 3241.
		The discovery of Charon has led to a much better understanding of just how tiny Pluto is. Its diameter is about 2274 km (1413 miles), and its mass is 0.25% of the mass of the Earth.
		Charon has a diameter of about 1172 kilometers (728 miles) and a mass of about 22% that of Pluto.
	www.usno.navy.mil /pao/press/charon.shtml (838 words)

	Pluto & Charon, a binary planet
		This is a drawing of Pluto and its moon Charon.
		Of all the planets and moons in the solar system, Pluto and Charon are the two which resemble each other the most closely.
		In the case of the Moon, the Moon seems to be made of material very much like the Earth's crust and not like the Earth's more metallic interior.
	www.windows.ucar.edu /tour/link=/pluto/binary_planet.html&edu=high (307 words)

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