9 Things The New Horizon Probe Has Taught Us About Pluto
2. Charon Is Just As Fascinating As Pluto
Well probably get lots of good information about Charon (pronounced just like your aunt Sharon), Plutos largest satellite. Charon, named after the ferryman who carries souls to Hades in Greek mythology, is a little confusing for scientists as the latest photos of Pluto have confirmed that the two bodies are drastically different from each other.
Because the centre of orbit lies above the surface of Pluto, some consider the two to actually be a binary system of dwarf planets rather than a planet and moon, meaning that the two bodies actually orbit each other around a common centre point.
New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern said in a statement that "These two objects have been together for billions of years, in the same orbit, but they are totally different. This raises a lot of questions about the formation of both Pluto and Charon that scientists will be attempting to answer over the coming months and years as more and more information is beamed back to us from the New Horizons spacecraft.