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.

Scientists have discovered a new type of planetary collision called “kiss-and-capture,” where Pluto and proto-Charon briefly ...

The study suggests that the existing model for the formation of Earth’s moon doesn’t perfectly apply to Pluto and Charon. Pluto and Charon are smaller and colder. These are composed of rock ...

"We were definitely surprised by the 'kiss' part of kiss-and-capture. There hasn't really been a kind of impact before where the two bodies only temporarily merge before re-separating!" ...

Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI Unlike how scientists believe Earth's moon formed billions of years ago, Pluto and its biggest moon, Charon, didn't have a messy breakup. New computer simulations show ...

Images) Researchers studying Pluto and Charon have long drawn a parallel to how Earth got its moon. The prevailing thought is that a Mars-sized body collided with Earth around 4.5 billion years ...

“The only comparable system is Earth and its moon.” Charon is about 750 miles across, while Pluto is nearly 1,500 miles in diameter. That proportion in sizes suggests that a number of ...

Pluto-Charon formation scenario mimics Earth-Moon system. ScienceDaily . Retrieved January 30, 2025 from www.sciencedaily.com / releases / 2025 / 01 / 250107140904.htm ...

A new study has proposed that Pluto captured Charon via a 'kiss'—rather than a catastrophic collision like the one that formed Earth's moon. Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. A new study has ...

And the new research may offer evidence for a subsurface ocean beneath Pluto’s icy crust. Charon and Earth’s moon are both a large fraction of the size of the main body they orbit, which is ...