# Charon

*In the Solar System*

Pluto's largest moon and half its width, so large that the two go round a point in the empty space between them rather than one round the other. Each keeps the same face turned to the other for good, a double lock nothing else this size shows. New Horizons photographed it in 2015 and found a dark red polar cap, coloured by methane that escapes from Pluto and freezes out on Charon's cold pole.

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Radius | 606 km |
| Around the equator | 3,808 km |
| From the Sun | 5,328,160,170 km (+99,243 km/d) |
| From the Earth | 5,284,226,501 km (+2,572,158 km/d) |
| A signal takes | 4 h 54 m |
| Goes round | Pluto |
| Placed to within | 4 km |

Distances and speed are computed from JPL Horizons trajectories and are true of 2026-10-09, changing at the rate given beside each. The interpolation itself is good to a few kilometres; what ages these figures is the date, not the arithmetic.

## Elsewhere

- On the live map: https://www.orbitalmap.space/?world=solar-system&focus=charon
- This object as a page: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/charon/
- Every object: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/
- What this site is and what it reads: https://www.orbitalmap.space/llms.txt