Charon's size and an upper limit on its atmosphere from a stellar occultation

Pluto and its satellite, Charon (discovered in 1978; ref. 1), appear to form a double planet, rather than a hierarchical planet/satellite couple. Charon is about half Pluto's size and about one-eighth its mass. The precise radii of Pluto and Charon have remained uncertain, leading to large uncertainties on their densities2. Although stellar occultations by Charon are in principle a powerful way of measuring its size, they are rare, as the satellite subtends less than 0.3 microradians (0.06 arcsec) on the sky. One occultation (in 1980) yielded a lower limit of 600 km for the satellite's radius 3, which was later refined to 601.5 km (ref. 4). Here we report observations from a multi-station stellar occultation by Charon, which we use to derive a radius, RC = 603.6 ± 1.4 km (1σ), and a density of ρ = 1.71 ± 0.08 g cm-3. This occultation also provides upper limits of 110 and 15 (3σ) nanobar for an atmosphere around Charon, assuming respectively a pure nitrogen or pure methane atmosphere. © 2006 Nature Publishing Group. Fil: Sicardy, B.. Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Francia. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Bellucci, A.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Gendron, E.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Lacombe, F.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Lacour, S.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Lecacheux, J.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Lellouch, E.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Renner, S.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Pau, S.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Roques, F.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Widemann, T.. Gepi - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation; Fil: Colas, F.. Imcce - Institut de Mecanique Celeste Et de Calcul Des Ephemerides; Fil: Vachier, F.. Imcce - Institut de Mecanique Celeste Et de Calcul Des Ephemerides; Fil: Martins, R. Vieira. Imcce - Institut de Mecanique Celeste Et de Calcul Des Ephemerides; . Ministério de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacao. Observatorio Nacional; Brasil Fil: Ageorges, N.. European Southern Observatory Santiago; Chile Fil: Hainaut, O.. European Southern Observatory Santiago; Chile Fil: Marco, O.. European Southern Observatory Santiago; Chile Fil: Beisker, W.. International Occultation Timing Association; Fil: Hummel, E.. International Occultation Timing Association; Fil: Feinstein Baigorri, Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio; Argentina Fil: Levato, Orlando Hugo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Complejo Astronómico ; Argentina Fil: Maury, A.. Gene Shoemaker Observatory; Chile Fil: Frappa, E.. Planétarium de Saint-etienne; Fil: Gaillard, B.. Association Des Utilisateurs de Détecteurs Electroniques (aude); Fil: Lavayssière, M.. Association Des Utilisateurs de Détecteurs Electroniques (aude); Fil: Di Sora, M.. Campo Catino Austral Observatory; Chile Fil: Mallia, F.. Campo Catino Austral Observatory; Chile Fil: Masi, G.. Campo Catino Austral Observatory; Chile. Universita Tor Vergata; Italia Fil: Behrend, R.. Universidad de Ginebra; Suiza Fil: Carrier, F.. Universidad de Ginebra; Suiza Fil: Mousis, O.. Observatoire de Besancon; Fil: Rousselot, P.. Observatoire de Besancon; Fil: Alvarez Candal, Alvaro Augusto. Ministério de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacao. Observatorio Nacional; Brasil Fil: Lazzaro, D.. Ministério de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacao. Observatorio Nacional; Brasil Fil: Veiga, C.. Ministério de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacao. Observatorio Nacional; Brasil Fil: Andrei, A.H.. Ministério de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacao. Observatorio Nacional; Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil Fil: Assafin, M.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil Fil: Da Silva Neto, D.N.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; Brasil Fil: Jacques, C.. Observatório CEAMIG-REA; Brasil Fil: Pimentel, E.. Observatório CEAMIG-REA; Brasil Fil: Weaver, D.. Universidade de Fortaleza; Fil: Lecampion, J.-F.. Observatoire Aquitain Des Sciences de L'univers; Fil: Doncel, F.. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; Paraguay Fil: Momiyama, T.. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; Paraguay Fil: Tancredi, G.. Facultad de Ciencias; Uruguay