I Heart Pluto Festival 2021, Day 5 | https://iheartpluto.org
Special talk by Jim and Charlene Christy: “When the Moon Hits Your Eye. Tour of the U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station and the telescope used to discover Charon.”

Jim Christy discovered Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, off images captured at the Naval Observatory in 1978. This facility is coincidentally located just four miles from where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto nearly a half-century earlier. Naval Observatory scientists will give a rare tour of the facility, focusing on the telescope used in Charon’s discovery.

Jim Christy not only discovered Charon but also named it, with a designation that not only conformed to the tradition of naming celestial objects after mythological characters, but that also honored his wife, Charlene.

The 2021 virtual I Heart Pluto Festival is produced by the nonprofit Lowell Observatory (https://lowell.edu) and is free to the public. Donations to support our ongoing science education and research can be made at https://iheartpluto.org/donate.