New study reveals Pluto and Charon’s origin: a unique "kiss and capture" collision redefines how binary systems form.

Pluto likely acquired large moon Charon in a “kiss and capture” collision billions of years ago. It may have created a ...

The “demoted” dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon Charon make an unusual pair, and for decades, scientists have been ...

"We were definitely surprised by the 'kiss' part of kiss-and-capture. There hasn't really been a kind of impact before where ...

Since New Horizons' close encounter with Pluto 10 years ago, experts have come to think of the dwarf planet as much more ...

Simulations suggest Pluto and its largest moon may have gently stuck together for a few hours before Charon settled into a ...

“Because Pluto is rotating rapidly prior to the collision, and because Charon lies mostly outside of their corotation zone, ...

Pluto and Charon may have formed through a “kiss and capture” mechanism, with the two icy bodies colliding and becoming ...

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's big moon Charon may have a different origin story than scientists suspected. New research suggests the two bodies ...

This "kiss and capture" mechanism offers a fresh perspective on planetary formation, particularly about Pluto and its largest ...

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