Charon (Moon of Pluto)
1,214 km (754.3 mi)
Diameter
Pluto's largest moon, half its size. 1,214 km across, more than half of Pluto's width.
Published
How big is that?
1,214 km is 137 times Mount Everest and 35% of the Moon.
Charon is the 20th smallest of the 39 Cosmic Scale objects, and the 20th largest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Charon in orange beside the Cosmic Scale objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Charon |
|---|---|---|
| Vesta (Asteroid)One of the biggest asteroids, with a giant crater near its south pole. | 522.77 km across | 43% of the size |
| Ceres (Dwarf planet)The biggest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. | 939.4 km across | 77% of the size |
| Charon (Moon of Pluto) | 1,214 km across | – |
| Pluto (Dwarf planet)The dwarf planet at the edge of the classical Solar System, with a heart-shaped plain. | 2,376 km across | 2× bigger |
| Triton (Moon of Neptune)Neptune's largest moon, which orbits backwards. | 2,706.8 km across | 2.2× bigger |
In other units
| Metres | 1,214,000 |
|---|---|
| Kilometres | 1,214 |
| Feet | 3,983,000 |
| Miles | 754.3 |
How it's measured
Diameter. NASA.
Sources
- science.nasa.gov: Charon is 754 miles (1,214 kilometers) across.
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Charon is one of the objects in Cosmic Scale, a daily size comparison game: you stretch a shape to the size you think is right beside one you know.