Is Pluto a double planet with its moon Charon?
Pluto not only orbits the Sun but also shares a mutual center of orbit with Charon, located between the two bodies. Secondly, Pluto is not much larger than Charon, with Charon being over half the size of Pluto—far larger than most moons relative to their parent planets.
Most people know that Earth's Moon is tidally locked, meaning we can only ever see one side of it. However, at the edge of our solar system, Pluto and Charon are both tidally locked to each other. This makes them resemble a binary star system, orbiting a mutual point in space, unlike any other major planet-moon system.
Even though there is a strong argument for Pluto and Charon to be classified as a double planet system, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) still rejects this classification because Charon does not independently orbit the Sun. However, some people continue to advocate for a future binary planet classification.
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