Charon, Pluto's largest moon
Charon, Pluto's largest moon
Charon is the largest of Pluto's moons. This image was taken on 14 July 2015 shortly before the closest approach to the binary system. It combines blue, red and infrared images taken with New Horizons' Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC). The colours are contrast-enhanced to highlight the variations of the surface on Charon. The most striking features are the rust-brown hues of the North Pole region Mordor Macula (top). They are probably complex mixtures of organic molecules such as carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen, which are called 'tholins' and which are formed as the surface material interacts with ultraviolet radiation and the particles of the solar wind. Charon has a diameter of 1,212 kilometres. The image resolution is 2.9 kilometres per pixel.
