Discovery of Charon
Descubrimiento de Caronte
- Date
- 1978 · confidence high
- Place
- United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States
- Credited to
- James W. Christy
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Christy noticed a periodic bulge in photographic plates of Pluto that matched its rotation period: a moon so large relative to its planet that it was barely distinguishable from it.
What it led to
- First accurate calculation of Pluto's mass
- Recognition of Pluto-Charon as a binary system
- Impetus for the search for more moons of Pluto (Nix, Hydra, Kerberos, Styx)