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 ...

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 ...

Pluto has been added to the University of Arizona’s scale-model walking tour of the solar system, but will that be enough to mend the dwarf planet’s broken heart? Not likely, according to a recent ...

Cross-sections of plausible interior structure models for Charon (a) and Pluto (b). In (a) and (b), the thicknesses of the silicate parts (and therefore also of the ice layers) range from 395–430 km ...

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 ...