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WhiteRoseTeabag t1_j4yrr0o wrote

They are different sizes but Pluto and Charon are mutually tidally locked. They rotate around each other instead of Charon orbiting Pluto. They're really close together so they even share atmospheric gases every six days.

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GrizzKarizz t1_j4ytlg4 wrote

I knew that they were tidally locked to each other but I had no idea that they can sometimes share an atmosphere.

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OffusMax t1_j4ywn5p wrote

Well, to be honest, all satellites and their planets orbit each other. In most cases the center of mass of the system is inside the planet because it’s very much more massive than the moon. In the case of Pluto and Charon, the difference in mass isn’t that great so you can tell that they’re orbiting around a point that isn’t entered on the planet’s center.

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Zerieth t1_j50aki1 wrote

And btw anything living on a planet system like that wouldn't be to happy given the crazy geological activity.

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ZombieZookeeper t1_j527dan wrote

They orbit a common point approximately 1000km above the surface of Pluto.

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