Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 June 3 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Charon: Moon of Pluto Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, [5]Southwest Research Institute, [6]U.S. Naval Observatory Explanation: A darkened and mysterious north polar region [7]known to some as Mordor Macula caps this premier high-resolution view. [8]The portrait of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, was captured by New Horizons near the spacecraft's closest approach on July 14, 2015. [9]The combined blue, red, and infrared 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 [10]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 [11]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 view was used by James Christy and Robert Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff to [12]discover Charon in June of 1978. Tomorrow's picture: look beyond __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2306/Charon-Neutral-Bright-Release.jpg 3. http://www.nasa.gov/ 4. http://www.jhuapl.edu/ 5. http://www.swri.edu/ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Observatory_Flagstaff_Station#/ media/File:NOFS-pan2.jpg 7. https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/pluto-moon-charon-formal-names/ 8. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-s-big-moon-charon-reveals-a-colorful-and-violent-history 9. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/image.php?page=1&gallery_id=2ℑ_id=323 10. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/ 11. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/how-big-is-pluto-new-horizons-settles-decades-long-debate 12. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/charon-at-40-four-decades-of-discovery-on-pluto-s-largest-moon 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230602.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230603 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230604.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/