Pluto may have captured its biggest moon

A Novel ‘Kiss and Capture’ Event Gave Pluto Its Largest Moon, Charon, New Study Suggests
Researchers accounted for the previously overlooked structures of the dwarf planet and moon in computer simulations of a celestial collision
Pluto’s Weirdly Big Moon May Have Come From A ‘Kiss And Capture’
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.
Pluto May Have Captured Its Biggest Moon After an Ancient Dance and Kiss
Charon is large in size relative to Pluto, and is locked in a tight orbit with the dwarf planet. A new simulation suggests how it ended up there.
Pluto ‘kissed’ its moon and captured it in orbit
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.
Pluto and its Moon Charon Formed Through a Cosmic “Kiss and Capture”
Until now, the thinking was that Pluto and Charon formed like Earth and our Moon. New research has flipped that script.
Pluto may have ‘kissed’ Charon to capture it
New models reveal Pluto and Charon may have spent some of their early history locked together in an embrace after a grazing collision.
Pluto And Its Moon Came Together With 'Kiss And Capture', Study Says
The love story between Pluto and Charon may have started with a kiss. A new study suggests the dwarf planet and its scarcely smaller moon likely came together in a collision that saw them conjoined for a period of time, billions of years ago, before separating into a stable, long-term orbital dance.
Astronomers have for decades tried to figure out how Pluto captured its largest moon. Now, there’s a new theory
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.
"Kiss and capture": New theory explains how Pluto captured its biggest moon
Using simulations that took into account parameters like the size and composition of the bodies, along with the strength at which they collided, researchers reported that in the early stages of formation Charon and Pluto came together and orbited as one,
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JWST reveals surprising surface chemistry is occurring on Pluto's moon Charon
Charon, the largest and most well-studied of Pluto's five moons, was first visited in 2015 as part of the groundbreaking ...
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Here’s how Pluto and Charon became a bizarre double planet
For decades, astronomers suspected that Pluto and Charon formed through a process similar to Earth and the Moon. This theory, ...
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I Never Knew It Was This Dark On Pluto
Experience "Pluto Time" on Earth and discover why Pluto isn’t as dark as it appears. NASA’s findings reveal surprising light levels, thanks to New Horizons. Learn how this distant world continues to ...
You think it’s cold? The winter storm is nothing compared to these icy worlds
In our solar system, Earth is one of only three worlds that sees temperatures above 32 degrees Fahrenheit, while other ...
The story behind Pluto's huge moon bodes well for distant ocean worlds
Since New Horizons' close encounter with Pluto 10 years ago, experts have come to think of the dwarf planet as much more ...