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Credit & Copyright: NASA,
Johns Hopkins Univ./APL,
Southwest Research Institute,
U.S. Naval Observatory
Explanation:
A darkened and mysterious north polar region
known to some as
Mordor Macula caps this premier high-resolution view.
The
portrait of Charon, Pluto's largest moon,
was captured by New Horizons near the spacecraft's closest
approach on July 14, 2015.
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
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
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
discover
Charon in June of 1978.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Charon
Publications with words: Charon
See also: