A researcher has used advanced models that indicate that the formation of Pluto and Charon may parallel that of the Earth-Moon system. Both systems include a moon that is a large fraction of the size ...

Existence of subsurface oceans on the satellites of the giant planets and Trans-Neptunian objects has been predicted for some time. Oceans on icy worlds exert a considerable influence on the dynamics ...

Labroots recently explored Saturn’s sponge-like moon, Hyperion, with its deep craters and non-spherical shape. This moon is an example of how the Universe and the laws of astrophysics work in both ...

Recent scientific modeling has proposed a fascinating theory about how Pluto captured its largest moon, Charon. The theory suggests a novel “kiss and capture” event, where the two celestial bodies ...

Charon survived a violent origin story that should have destroyed it. Its tidal lock with Pluto, frozen internal ocean, ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Credit: NASA/Robert Lea (created with Canva) New research suggests that billions of years ago, Pluto may have captured its largest ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. For decades, astronomers have tried to determine how Pluto acquired its unusually large moon Charon, which is about half the size ...

Why are there moons at the edge of the solar system that cause their rotation axes to fluctuate as if ignoring the laws of ...

This composite image of Pluto, right, and Charon, its largest moon, showcases photos captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI Unlike how scientists believe ...

Pluto and Charon’s meet-cute may have started with a kiss. New computer simulations of the dwarf planet and its largest moon suggest that the pair got together in a “kiss-and-capture” collision, where ...

A NASA postdoctoral researcher at Southwest Research Institute has used advanced models that indicate that the formation of Pluto and Charon may parallel that of the Earth-Moon system. Both systems ...

Using advanced models, SwRI led new research that indicates that the formation of Pluto and Charon may parallel that of the Earth-Moon system. In the resulting “kiss-and-capture” regime, Pluto and ...