When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: NASA/Robert Lea (created with Canva) New research suggests that billions of years ago, ...

For decades, astronomers have tried to determine how Pluto acquired its unusually large moon Charon, which is about half the size of the dwarf planet. Now, new research suggests that Pluto and Charon ...

The spacecraft New Horizons sped past Pluto and its moons on July 14, 2015, gathering data from seven onboard instruments. Shortly thereafter, it began offloading that data in a stream of digital bits ...

New research suggests Pluto may have had a “kiss” with its largest moon billions of years ago in a harmless collision. The report, published in “Nature Geoscience,” describes how the minuscule dwarf ...

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution, enhanced color view of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. Scientists have learned that reddish ...

The icy volcanism of Charon may be caused by its internal ocean freezing, expanding, and cracking the outer shell of the moon if it was thinner than expected. When you purchase through links on our ...

Discover the epic 9-year journey of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it races through the solar system to uncover Pluto’s ...

Pluto may be sharing its atmosphere with its largest moon, Charon, creating the visually striking red spot at the satellite's north pole. New research suggests that conditions on the two worlds over ...

Pluto landed its largest moon, Charon, with a 'kiss'—overturning decades of scientific assumptions about how planetary bodies form and evolve. This is the conclusion of a new study, conducted at the ...

Scientists have discovered carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on the surface of Charon, Pluto's largest moon, offering clues about the origins of the space rock and other celestial objects in the ...

New research suggests that billions of years ago, Pluto may have captured its largest moon, Charon, with a very brief icy "kiss." The theory could explain how the dwarf planet (yeah, we wish Pluto was ...

In the vastness of outer space, meetups between celestial bodies can be few and far between. But when they do happen, even the briefest affairs can leave behind permanent scars. For scientists probing ...