Pluto and its moon Charon may have been briefly locked together in a cosmic “kiss”, before the dwarf planet released the smaller body and recaptured it in its orbit.

Pluto may have got romantic to capture its largest moon, colliding and engaging in a passionate but icy 10 hour kiss with Charon billions of years ago.

The debate over Pluto’s planetary status has been ongoing since its reclassification as a “dwarf planet” in 2006 by the ...

Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is nearly as massive as Pluto; they are often called a "double planet" (though neither meets the criteria for a planet). Charon could potentially keep Pluto warm, if the ...

Related: Charon: Pluto's Largest Moon Team member and SwRI researcher Alyssa Rhoden is an expert in the geophysics of icy satellites, especially ones that host their own oceans.

Pluto's largest moon, Charon, as seen by New Horizons as it flew past in 2015. Its red cap of tholins is evident at the top of the picture.(Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied ...

In all the cases, oceans on Pluto are always predicted to remain liquid to the present, ranging from 40 km to 150-km thick, whereas oceans on Charon have solidified.

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.

Simulation snapshot of Pluto and Charon during “kiss-and-capture” scenario that could explain their formation. (Credit: Robert Melikyan and Adeene Denton) Going forward, the researchers aspire to ...

NASA’s New Horizons space probe flew by Pluto and Charon back in 2015. But there were still many questions unanswered about the former planet and its moon.

New Horizons has obtained impressive new images of Pluto and its large moon Charon that highlight their compositional diversity. These are not actual color images of Pluto and Charonthey are shown ...

Pluto's largest moon, Charon. (Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute) Labroots recently explored Saturn’s sponge-like moon, Hyperion, with its ...