‘Kiss and capture’: scientists offer new theory on how Pluto got its largest moon
Findings suggest Charon collided with dwarf planet and then pair briefly rotated together before separating
It sounds like one of Kipling’s Just So Stories but it is rooted in science: experts say they have a new theory for how Pluto got its largest moon.
Pluto – once considered the ninth planet of our solar system, but now classified as a “dwarf planet” – has five known moons, of which Charon is the largest with a diameter of about 754 miles, just over half that of Pluto itself.
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