Smithsonian Magazine on MSN1h
A Novel 'Kiss and Capture' Event Gave Pluto Its Largest Moon, Charon, New Study Suggests
The “demoted” dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon make an unusual pair, and for decades, scientists have been ...
'Kiss and capture': Scientists propose new explanation for Charon, Pluto's largest moon
Unlike Earth, where the Moon orbits the planet, Pluto and Charon orbit each other, forming a binary system that is more ...
New Scientist on MSN2d
Pluto may have captured its moon Charon with a brief kiss
Simulations suggest Pluto and its largest moon may have gently stuck together for a few hours before Charon settled into a ...
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.
Scientists stunned after learning Pluto and its biggest moon collided billions of years ago: ‘Raises a lot of interesting questions’
They needed some space. New research suggests Pluto may have had a “kiss” with its largest moon billions of years ago in a harmless collision. The report, published in “Nature ...
'A cosmic dance': How Pluto's ‘kiss and capture’ gave birth to its largest moon Charon
A new study proposes a 'kiss and capture' collision theory to explain the origins of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, shedding ...
“Kiss and Capture:” The Icy Collision That Bound Pluto and Charon Forever
Pluto and Charon's origin story has been rewritten by a recent study, revealing they formed from a unique "kiss and capture" ...
"Kiss and capture": New theory explains how Pluto captured its biggest moon
“Because Pluto is rotating rapidly prior to the collision, and because Charon lies mostly outside of their corotation zone, ...
Astronomy on MSN2d
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 ...
Sealed With a Kiss: The Unexpected Origin Story of Pluto and Its Moon Charon
Pluto and Charon may have formed through a “kiss and capture” mechanism, with the two icy bodies colliding and becoming ...
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 ...
Space on MSN1d
Pluto May Have Won Its Moon Charon with a ‘Kiss’
Pluto and its largest moon Charon could have come together via a 10-hour “kiss-and-capture” encounter after a grazing ...