Pluto
James Christy identifies evidence of Pluto's first known moon, later named Charon, in photographic observations.
Historical biography archive · Updated 2026-11-03
James Christy Biography and Timeline
Follow James Christy through 4 dated historical records for United States of America.
James Christy, historical timeline
A chronological timeline drawn from matching World History Database records.
4Distinct records
1 of 1Page
1978–1985Years on this page
1978
Charon
New photographs from the U.S. Naval Observatory confirm that the recurring elongation beside Pluto is caused by an orbiting satellite.
Charon
The discovery of Pluto's moon is formally announced to astronomers through IAU Circular 3241.
1985
Charon
An IAU circular reports confirming mutual-event observations, after which Pluto's large satellite is officially named Charon.
Records, sources and methodology
These dates and descriptions come from the historical_events database. Exact duplicate records have been collapsed. Names are grouped by the country, Name 2 and Name 1 fields; records with missing Name 2 cannot be reliably assigned to an individual biography. Check the underlying sources before formal citation.