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.

                                 2026 June 6
    [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 view [8]of Charon, Pluto's
   largest moon. The high-resolution image was captured by the
   [9]interplanetary space probe [10]New Horizons near its closest
   approach to distant Pluto on July 14, 2015. [11]The combined blue, red,
   and infrared image 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 [12]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 image was used by James Christy and Robert Harrington
   at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff to [13]discover Charon in
   June of 1978.

              Tomorrow's picture: Jupiter and Venus from Earth
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    Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([28]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [29]Specific rights apply.
            [30]NASA Web Privacy, [31]Accessibility, [32]Notices;
                A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC,
                         [36]NASA Science Activation
                           & [37]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2606/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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverland_Regio
   8. https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/pluto/moons/charon/
   9. https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
  10. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons/
  11. http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Galleries/Featured-Images/image.php?page=1&gallery_id=2ℑ_id=323
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/how-big-is-pluto-new-horizons-settles-decades-long-debate/
  13. https://www.nasa.gov/missions/charon-at-40-four-decades-of-discovery-on-plutos-largest-moon/
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260605.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  20. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  23. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=260606
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260607.html
  25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/
  35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  36. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  37. http://www.mtu.edu/