Charon mag 15.7 Right ascension: 17h47m30.494s Declination: -16 25' 32.26" Mean position at current epoch: Right ascension: 17h47m56.583s Declination: -16 25' 40.33" Apparent position at current epoch: Right ascension: 17h47m58.324s Declination: -16 25' 47.99" Dist from home planet: 30.36780298 AU (4,542,958,643 km) Heliocentric position: lon 228.70889 lat -0.56418 Heliocentric radius 31.31135 AU 100.00% illuminated Phase angle: 0.70 degrees Elongation from Sun 157.78 degrees (evening sky) 0.05 arcseconds angular diameter Position angle of the north pole: 64.10 degrees Tilt of north pole toward home planet: -37.7027 degrees Central meridian: 10.92 ******************************************************************************* HORIZONS Body Information Revised: Sep 12, 1996 Charon / (Pluto) 901 SATELLITE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES: Radius = 586(+-13) km (Approx. spherical) Mass = 1.90(+-0.04)E+21 kg Density = 2.24 g/cc (Max elongation: less than 1 arcsecond) (Maximum visual magnitude: 15.5) Geometric albedo = 0.375(+-.08) Escape velocity = 0.58 km/s Surface gravity = 21.3 cm/s2 Hill's Sphere = 5800 km SATELLITE ORBITAL DATA: Synchronous rotation Orbital period = 6.38723 d Semimajor axis, a = 19.405E+3 km (Ave dist: 17.1 Pluto radii) Eccentricity, e = 0.0 Inclination, i = 0.0 deg ******************************************************************************* Mythology: (Discovered in 1978 by Jim Christy) Charon is named for the mythological figure who ferried the dead across the River Styx into Hades (the underworld). Notes: Charon is the largest moon with respect to its primary in the solar system (with the Earth's Moon coming in second).