Charon known as Pluto I, is the largest of the five known natural satellites of the dwarf planet Pluto. It has a mean radius of 606 km, it was discovered in 1978 at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D. C. using photographic plates taken at the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station. With half the diameter and one eighth the mass of Pluto, Charon is a large moon in comparison to its parent body, its gravitational influence is such. The reddish-brown cap of the north pole of Charon is composed of tholins, organic macromolecules that may be essential ingredients of life; these tholins were produced from methane and related gases released from the atmosphere of Pluto and transferred over 19,000 km to the orbiting moon. The New Horizons spacecraft is the only probe, it approached Charon to within 27,000 km in 2015. Charon was discovered by United States Naval Observatory astronomer James Christy, using the 1.55-meter telescope at United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station.

On June 22, 1978, he had been examining magnified images of Pluto on photographic plates taken with the telescope two months prior. Christy noticed; the bulge was confirmed on plates dating back to April 29, 1965. The International Astronomical Union formally announced Christy's discovery to the world on July 7, 1978. Subsequent observations of Pluto determined; the periodicity of the bulge corresponded to Pluto's rotation period, known from Pluto's light curve. This indicated a synchronous orbit, which suggested that the bulge effect was real and not spurious; this resulted in reassessments of Pluto's size and other physical characteristics because the calculated mass and albedo of the Pluto–Charon system had been attributed to Pluto alone. Doubts about Charon's existence were erased when it and Pluto entered a five-year period of mutual eclipses and transits between 1985 and 1990; this occurs when the Pluto–Charon orbital plane is edge-on as seen from Earth, which only happens at two intervals in Pluto's 248-year orbital period.

It was fortuitous. Author Edmond Hamilton referred to three moons of Pluto in his 1940 science fiction novel Calling Captain Future, naming them Charon and Cerberus. After its discovery, Charon was known by the temporary designation S/1978 P 1, according to the recently instituted convention. On June 24, 1978, Christy first suggested the name Charon as a scientific-sounding version of his wife Charlene's nickname, "Char". Although colleagues at the Naval Observatory proposed Persephone, Christy stuck with Charon after discovering that it coincidentally refers to a Greek mythological figure: Charon is the ferryman of the dead associated in myth with the god Hades, whom the Romans identified with their god Pluto; the IAU adopted the name in late 1985 and it was announced on January 3, 1986. There is minor debate over the preferred pronunciation of the name; the practice of following the classical pronunciation established for the mythological ferryman Charon, with a "k" sound, is used by major English-language dictionaries, such as the Merriam-Webster and Oxford English dictionaries.

These indicate only the "k" pronunciation of "Charon" when referring to Pluto's moon. Speakers of languages other than English, many English-speaking astronomers as well, follow this pronunciation. However, Christy himself pronounced the initial ch after his wife Charlene; because of this, as an acknowledgement of Christy and sometimes as an in-joke or shibboleth, the initial "sh" pronunciation is common among astronomers when speaking English, this is the prescribed pronunciation at NASA and of the New Horizons team. Simulation work published in 2005 by Robin Canup suggested that Charon could have been formed by a collision around 4.5 billion years ago, much like Earth and the Moon. In this model, a large Kuiper belt object struck Pluto at high velocity, destroying itself and blasting off much of Pluto's outer mantle, Charon coalesced from the debris. However, such an impact should result in an icier Charon and rockier Pluto than scientists have found, it is now thought that Pluto and Charon might have been two bodies that collided before going into orbit about each other.

The collision would have been violent enough to boil off volatile ices like methane but not violent enough to have destroyed either body. The similar density of Pluto and Charon implies that the parent bodies were not differentiated when the impact occurred. Charon and Pluto orbit each other every 6.387 days. The two objects are gravitationally locked to one another, so each keeps the same face towards the other; this is a case of mutual tidal locking, as compared to that of the Earth and the Moon, where the Moon always shows the same face to Earth, but not vice versa. The average distance between Charon and Pluto is 19,570 kilometres; the discovery of Charon allowed astronomers to calculate the mass of the Plutonian system, mutual occultations revealed their sizes. However, neither indicated the two bodies' individual masses, which could only be estimated, until the discovery of Pluto's outer moons in late 2005. Details in the orbits of the outer moons revealed that Charon has 12% of the mass of Pluto.

Charon's diameter is 1,212 kilometres, just over half that of Pluto. Larger than the dwarf planet Ceres, it is the twelfth largest natural sa

Bloody Mary is a 2006 thriller-horror film written and directed by Richard Valentine. The film begins with a group of nurses at a psychiatric hospital daring a fellow nurse, Nicole, to go into the hospital's basement for a game of Bloody Mary. Playing what the others call "The Mirror Game", she releases the vengeful spirit and is snatched away; when Nicole is reported missing, her writer/reporter sister Natalie decides to investigate on her own. As the film progresses, more people are killed by the spirit of Bloody Mary in gruesome ways while Natalie uncovers clues about the truth behind her sister's disappearance and Mary herself. Near the end all of the main characters are dead except for Natalie, who discovers that Bloody Mary is her mother. Kim Tyler... Natalie Matthew Borlenghi... Bobby Danni Ravden... Jenna Troy Turi... Johnny Christian Schrapff... Scooter Amber Borycki... Tabitha Cory Monteith... Paul Richard Carmen... Dr. McCarty Eero Johnson... Railroad Dex Manley... Luther Critical response to the film was negative, with the film receiving heavy criticism of the plot.

Steve "Uncle Creepy" Barton of Dread Central rated the film 2/5 stars and said of the film: "there's... some good acting, killer sound design, spooky ghost effects, a decent amount of nudity and gore. It's a real shame all that goodness gets lost in a semi-coherent abyss of confusion." Dave Murray of Joblo.com rated the film 1.5/4 stars and said that it was "fun to watch once" but not a film that he could recommend. Christopher Null of Contactmusic.com said, "There are nuggets of what might be something worth watching in all of this, but they come through only faintly and in short bursts." Bloody Mary folklore in popular culture Bloody Mary on IMDb Bloody Mary at Rotten Tomatoes

The Oxford Cheetahs were a British speedway team based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1949 and were five times champions of Britain, in 1964, 1985, 1986, 1989 and 2001; the club folded in 2007. Throughout their history they ran under two other names, from 1972 to 1975, they were known as Oxford Rebels and from 2003 to 2005, they were known as Oxford Silver Machine, they ran junior sides known as the Oxford Cubs, Oxford Silver Machine Academy and Oxford Lions. In 1949 they joined the 1949 Speedway National League Division Three finishing in last place during their inaugural season using 24 different riders; the following season they won the division and were promoted to Division two in 1951. After finishing bottom of the division two in 1952 they rode in the third division called the Southern League in 1953 but following a league restructure returned to division two in 1954. Following a league merger the Cheetahs rode in the top tier for the first time in 1957. After struggling in the top division for several years they won the top tier league for the first time in 1964 despite finishing last the season before with many of the same riders.

The winning team consisted of Arne Pander, Colin Gooddy, Colin McKee, Danny Dunton, Eddie Reeves, George Major, Jack Geran, Jimmy Gooch, John Bishop, Ron How and Ronnie Genz. They completed a treble by winning the National Trophy and Britannia Shield; the team failed to emulate the success in the following seasons finishing mid-table for the next 7 years. From 1972 to 1975, they were known as Oxford Rebels under promoters Danny Bob Dugard. Following the threat of track closure the promoters started a new team at White City called the White City Rebels leaving Oxford with no team or riders. A new Oxford team were formed and entered division two, they took back the name Cheetahs with new promoters Harry Bastable and Tony Allsop after a committee of fans had created a "Save Our Stadium" campaign over the previous winter; the team competed for eight years in the division. The golden period of Oxford speedway started in 1984; the stadium owners Northern Sports, headed by David Hawkins, invested into the stadium with a £1.5 million three tier grandstand restaurant and sports centre.

Hawkins installed Bernard Crapper and John Payne as speedway co-promoters and the team were entered for the 1984 British League season, with a new team that included Danish international Hans Nielsen and Simon Wigg. The team were champions of Britain in 1985, 1986 and 1989. In addition they won two British League Knockout Cups, a League Cup and Gold Cup and paraded through Oxford on an open top bus. Northern Sports parent company Hawkins of Harrow began to run into financial trouble and the team suffered lack of investment, Hans Nielsen left and the team applied to and raced in division two, they won the division two fours championship in 1994. Northern Sports were liquidated. Additionally in 1995 and 1996 there was only one division of British speedway meaning the Oxford Cheetahs returned to the top division under independent promoters. Another league restructure resulted in a new Elite League with the Premier League becoming division two, Oxford competed in the latter; the team competed in the Elite League under new promotion from 1998 and in 2001 won their fifth top tier title.

The team consisted of Aleš Dryml Jr. Andrew Appleton, Brian Andersen, Davey Watt, Leigh Adams, Lukáš Dryml, Steve Johnston and Todd Wiltshire and was promoted by Steve Purchase; the Oxford Cheetahs were renamed for three seasons as the Oxford Silver Machine under the promotion of Nigel Wagstaff. In 2006 they reverted to their original name, apt because it was their final full season as a top tier speedway team; until 30 May 2007, they rode in the Elite League and operated a junior side known as the Oxford Lions which competed in the Conference League. In a statement issued by the British Speedway Promoters Association on 31 May 2007, their owner Colin Horton closed the club as a result of only 400–500 regular supporters attending home fixtures, losing several thousand pounds every week. In June 2007, businessman Allen Trump invested in the club to secure the lease on the track and the Cheetahs completed the 2007 season in the Conference League, replacing the Lions. After the 2007 season, owner Allen Trump planned to bring the Cheetahs back into the Premier League for 2008.

However, Trump was unable to secure a deal with landlords, the Greyhound Racing Association to continue speedway racing at the Cowley stadium and handed the promotion back to the BSPA. During the summer of 2008 Nick Andrews was granted permission to organise Conference League challenge fixtures featuring a touring side of ex-Oxford riders with a view to entering the team in the Premier League in 2009. Negotiations with the GRA were again unsuccessful and speedway did not return to Oxford. Despite having no league speedway, there are still a number of committed fans keen to see the return of speedway to Oxford. Two supporters groups, the Oxford Speedway Supporters Club and Save Oxford Speedway hold regular events and trips for Oxford fans and campaign for the return of speedway to Oxford. + Elite League side withdrew from league List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup Oxford Speedway Supporters Club Website