Editing Charon (moon) (section)

==Observation and exploration==
{{multiple image
| caption_align     = center
| header_align      = center
| align             = right
| header            = Historical observations of Charon
| width             =
| image1            = Charon Discovery.jpg
| width1            = 220
| caption1          = <small>(1)</small> Discovery;<br>1978
| image2            = Pluto-picture.jpg
| width2            = 225
| caption2          = <small>(2)</small> [[Hubble Space Telescope|HST]] – before correction;<br>1990
| image3            = Pluto and charon.jpg
| width3            = 323
| caption3          = <small>(3)</small> [[Hubble Space Telescope|HST]] – after correction;<br>1994
| image4            = First Color Animated Images show Pluto and its Moon Charon.gif
| width4            = 168
| caption4          = <small>(4)</small> 1st color animated view;<br>2015
| total_width       = 400
| perrow            = 2/2
}}
Since the first blurred images of the moon <small>(1)</small>, images showing Pluto and Charon resolved into separate disks were taken for the first time by the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] in the 1990s <small>(2)</small>. The telescope was responsible for the best, yet low-quality images of the moon. In 1994, the clearest picture of the Pluto–Charon system showed two distinct and well-defined disks <small>(3)</small>. The image was taken by Hubble's [[Faint Object Camera]] (FOC) when the system was 4.4 billion kilometers (2.6 billion miles) away from Earth<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pluto and Charon |url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9417a/ |website=Hubble Space Telescope |date=May 16, 1994 |access-date=October 8, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905112231/http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9417a/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later, the development of [[adaptive optics]] made it possible to resolve Pluto and Charon into separate disks using ground-based telescopes.<ref name="UnivToday" /> Although ground-based observation is very challenging, a group of amateur astronomers in Italy used a 14-inch telescope in 2008 to successfully resolve Charon in an image of Pluto.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Atkinson |first=Nancy |date=2008-10-30 |title=Charon Imaged by Amateur Astronomers |url=https://www.universetoday.com/20351/charon-imaged-by-amateur-astronomers/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=Universe Today |language=en-US}}</ref>

In June 2015, the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft captured consecutive images of the Pluto–Charon system as it approached it. The images were put together in an animation. It was the best image of Charon to that date <small>(4)</small>. In July 2015, the ''New Horizons'' spacecraft made its closest approach to the Pluto system. It is the only spacecraft to date to have visited and studied Charon.  Charon's discoverer James Christy and the children of [[Clyde Tombaugh]] were guests at the [[Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory]] during the New Horizons closest approach.