Charon

As far as relative planet-to-satellite size ratios go, the Pluto-Charon system stands out as the largest body compared to parent planet in the Solar System. It has a diameter of 1186 km compared to the 2320 km diameter of Pluto. The Earth-Moon system is next, with the Moon possessing 16% of the Earth's mass. The table below provides some information on Charon, including orbital characteristics (Illingworth, 1994).

Satellite	Year of Discovery	Diameter (Km)	Orbital Radius (Km)	Eccentricity	Orbital Period (days)	Inclination (°)
Charon	1978	1 186	20 000	< 0.001	6.39	98.80

 

As no spacecraft has ever visited the Pluto-Charon system, we know very little about it. Since Voyager 2's encounter with Neptune's largest satellite Triton, planetary geologists have thought it highly likely that both Pluto and Charon would be very similar to Triton in composition.