As far as I can remember (and I remember when it was discovered) it’s name is Charon.
But in the last few years I’ve heard it called something else, which escapes me at the moment. Begins with a K and sounds Japanese?
Paging the BA…
Charon is pronounced with a hard ‘C’ sound. KA-ron.
Zev Steinhardt
No, I’ve heard it called something completely different. Most recently on a show on The Discovery Channel about the planets narrated by Karen Stone.
I first thought “there’s no way the moon is called Charon. That’s the name of Pluto’s moon!”
But… duh… I reread the topic. Why is there any fuss about this? Isn’t it straightforward and pseudocommon knowledge that it’s called Charon? I don’t understand the controversy.
You may be thinking of “Quaoar”.
This is a recently discovered Kuiper belt object :the Kuiper belt is a disc of small icy bodies, where some comets come from, out beyond Neptune.
Its about the same size as Charon,but it’s further away from the earth than Pluto.
See the web site of one of it’s discoverers http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~chad/quaoar
Actually, while the name of the mythological boatman of the Styx was certainly pronounced with a “K” sound, the discoverer of Charon, James Christy, chose to pronounce it with an “S” sound in honor of his wife Charlene. Therefore, some people pronounce it hard “C” and some pronounce it soft “C”.