Charon
Charon is the largest natural satellite of Pluto. Its radius is about half that of Pluto, and their barycentre lies outside both objects. This is a common definition of a binary object, leading some astronomers to consider them a double dwarf planet.
Charon was discovered in 1978 by James W Christy.
From the discovery of Nix and Hydra, it was possible to estimate Charon's mass as roughly 10% that of Pluto. This implies it's approximately 45% ice, thought mostly to be water ice.
Charon in Orbiter
Charon was introduced to Orbiter with the release of pluto_pack.zip in July 2004.
Add-on | Source | Version | Author | Type | Release Date | Compatibility | Wiki article |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Celestial Bodies Motion - Part 2/4 - v2.0.0 | O-F Resources | v2.0.0 | cristiapi | Scenery | 2 July 2015 | *config and module only | |
Pluto and Moons | O-F Resources | 2010-05-13 | Piper | Scenery | 13 May 2010 | ||
Orbital correction for Pluto and moons | O-F Resources | 2009-11-25 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 25 November 2009 | ||
Pluto | O-F Resources | 2006-11-13 | Unknown OHM Addon Developer | Scenery | 13 November 2006 | ||
Pluto-Charon v2.0 | O-F Resources | 2005-05-09 | Nighthawke | Scenery | 10 May 2005 | Orbiter 2005 | |
Pluto Pack | AVSIM | CharlotMan | Scenery | 17 July 2004 |
Gallery
Charon imaged by New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015
from Wikimedia Commons
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