"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!" ...

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

The origins of this coloration are mysterious since no similar feature is seen on any other icy object in the solar system. One possibility is that Pluto and Charon's long, 248-Earth-year orbit ...

“If Charon deposited some of its rock into Pluto, you would be able to see that in gravity data,” said Dr. Denton. “Unfortunately we would need to go back to Pluto to test this.” ...

before parting again to form the binary pair we can see today. As a result, it is likely that both Pluto and Charon stayed largely intact across the collision, preserving their original ...

Charon is half the size of Pluto ... forces could have played a crucial role in shaping the features we see on Pluto's surface today." NASA’s New Horizons mission visited Pluto in 2015 ...

Instead, the simulations propose that Pluto and Charon briefly stuck together after colliding and separated into the two planetary bodies we see today. "Most planetary collision scenarios are ...

Robert Melikyan and Adeene Denton Along with learning more about the formation of oceans on Pluto and Charon, Denton seeks to see how the principles at play affect other Kuiper Belt objects ...

A new study suggests that the origin of Pluto's largest moon was quite different than our own. Here's what you need to know.

These bodies separated relatively quickly but remained orbitally linked to create the Pluto/Charon system we see today. This "kiss and capture" process represents a new theory of moon capture and ...