Charon

Charon

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He transports the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the river that borders the underworld. Archaeology confirms that, in some burials, low-value coins known generically as Charon's obols were placed in, on, or near the mouth of the deceased, or next to the cremation urn containing the ashes. In Virgil's epic poem, Aeneid, the dead who could not pay the fee, and those who had received no funeral rites, had to wander the near shores of the Styx for one hundred years before they were allowed to cross the river. Charon also ferried the living mortals Heracles and Aeneas to the underworld and back again.

Charon (moon)

Charon, formal designation (134340) Pluto I, is the largest of the five known natural satellites of the dwarf planet Pluto. It has a mean radius of 606 km (377 mi). Charon is a planetary-mass moon and the sixth-largest known trans-Neptunian object after Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Gonggong. It was discovered in 1978 at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., using photographic plates taken at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS).

Charon

Proper noun

1. A taxonomic genus within the family Charontidae – certain whip spiders.

Proper noun

1. The ferryman of Hades, who rowed the shades of the dead across the river Styx.
2. The largest of the five moons of Pluto.