Astronomy Picture of the Day
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.
2015 July 17
Charon
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research Inst.
Explanation: Icy world Charon is 1,200 kilometers across. That makes Pluto's largest moon only about 1/10th the size of planet Earth but a whopping 1/2 the diameter of
Pluto itself. Charon is seen in unprecedented
detail in this image from New Horizons. The image was captured late July 13
during the spacecraft's flight through the Plutonian system from a range of less than 500,000 kilometers. For reference, the distance separating Earth and Moon is less than 400,000 kilometers.
Charonian terrain, described as
surprising, youthful, and varied, includes a 1,000 kilometer swath of cliffs and troughs stretching below center, a 7 to 9 kilometer deep canyon cutting the curve of the upper right edge, and an enigmatic dark north polar region
unofficially dubbed Mordor.
Tomorrow's picture: closer still
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