Pluto and Charon - Hubble Space Telescope

Pluto and Charon from 4.4 billion km

Pluto and Charon
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of Pluto and its satellite Charon. Pluto is 2390 km in diameter and Charon is 1190 km. The two bodies are so close in size they are often thought of as a double planet. At the time this image was taken the two bodies were at maximum elongation of 0.9 arc seconds. The bodies orbit 19,600 km apart. Pluto is the larger body to the lower left, Charon is at upper right. (HST, STScI-PR94-17)
Larger image: 15K

High resolution tiff file (3.0M)

Location & Time Information
Date/Time (UT): 1994-02-21
Distance/Range (km): 4,400,000,000.
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): N/A
Orbit(s): N/A

Imaging Information
Area or Feature Type: global view
Instrument: HST ESA Faint Object Camera (FOC)
Instrument Resolution (pixels): 512 x 512, 8 bit
Instrument Field of View (deg): 0.00194 x 0.00194
Filter: N/A
Illumination Incidence Angle (deg): N/A
Phase Angle (deg): N/A
Instrument Look Direction: N/A
Surface Emission Angle (deg): N/A

Ordering Information
CD-ROM Volume: N/A
NASA Image ID number: STScI-PR94-17
Other Image ID number: N/A
NSSDC Data Set ID (Photo): N/A
NSSDC Data Set ID (CD): NSD XD-12A
Other ID: N/A

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[NASA Logo] Authors/Curators:

Dave Williams, dave.williams@nasa.gov, (301) 286-1258
Code 690.1, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

Jay Friedlander, jay.s.friedlander@nasa.gov, (301) 286-7172
Code 612.4, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams, David.R.Williams@nasa.gov
Last updated: 24 September 2015