The “demoted” dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon make an unusual pair, and for decades, scientists have been discussing how the binary system—in which each mutually orbits the other—came to be.

Pluto's big moon Charon may have a different origin story than scientists suspected. New research suggests the two bodies engaged in a celestial kiss and tango.

Billions of years ago, two icy worlds—Pluto and Chron—collided in the farthest reaches of our solar system. But rather than smashing into pieces, Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, briefly spun together like a celestial snowman before separating, forever linked in orbit.

New models reveal Pluto and Charon may have spent some of their early history locked together in an embrace after a grazing collision.

Until now, the thinking was that Pluto and Charon formed like Earth and our Moon. New research has flipped that script.

Pluto likely acquired large moon Charon in a “kiss and capture” collision billions of years ago. It may have created a subsurface ocean on the icy dwarf planet.