Moon Spotlight: Charon!! (1 Viewer)

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[HAVE YOU MET CHARON?!]

Charon! The largest moon of Pluto!
Named after the mythological figure, ferryman of the Greek Underworld who lead souls across the river Styx.
1000009211.jpg

As their namesake, Charon also works very closely to Pluto. Their pairing is almost too perfect...

Charon's a lil over half the size of Pluto, making it the closest moon to planet size! (if we're including our beloved dwarf planets, we have a few!!)
1000009208.jpg

Heres Pluto, left. Charon, top right.
Pluto's other 4 moons on the bottom right!! The size difference is wild!!
They're even sometimes called the double dwarf planet system.
Because while Charon does go around Pluto, they're techinally orbiting a center of gravity between them... together...
1000009210.gif

Truly in their own little world...

Now how in the underworld did Pluto manage to bring Charon into it's field?
Easy.
❤ Love :jooyeonkiss:
There's a theory that suggests that the dwarf planet and charon didnt collide, but had a brief "kiss" where they just touched, not collided, but held on as they spun around before drifting off.

Pluto and Charon had an instant connection, says Adeene Denton. “They kiss and they say: ‘Yeah, this is it. I want to build a system together with you.’ And then they do.”
-- ScienceNewsExplore
amongst so many celestial bodies who've typically had very rageful beginnings and captures....
true love can bloom on the battlefield
:sadcat:

Thus, they've created the Pluto-Charon System. One of the rare examples of a mutual tidal lock. Meaning they are always facing each other.
All large moons are tidally locked! But a mutual tidal lock is much more rare, there's only 3 cases (possibly 4...) And they're all from dwarf planets :hcnod:

A normal tidal lock example would be like our moon, its always facing one side at us, because it orbits at the same speed it rotates. Earth runs on a different rotation, so the Moon's face sees all sides of the earth.

Pluto and Charon's mutual tidal lock means they stay face to face, every day, every hour, they never stop looking at each other.... :jenniecry:

So depending on who you ask, Charon the Moon or Pluto-Charon the duo system. History will say they're really good friends x.
​
 

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i got a lil emotional writing this one, theyre pretty cute
 

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its like Pluto just likes to watch Charon dance around...
 

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TIL! I didn't know Pluto had moons. I thought it was too small for that.
out of our 5 dwarf planets, 4 of them have moons!
ceres is the only one with out a moon
eris and makemake have 1, haumea has 2 (makemake and haumea are also smaller than pluto)

pluto has five!!!!!! (or 4 if you wanna consider pluto-charon as one unit :hcnod: )
 
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