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
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    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/