The planets in order from the Sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. If you include the ...

Haze Drives Escape and Paints Charon Red Pluto's atmosphere is so thin that any nudge can send molecules into space. Planetary scientist Will Grundy estimated Pluto loses about 1.3 kg/s of methane, ...

This composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015.

Charon would have had to travel very slowly or impact at a sharp angle to end up as Pluto’s moon—neither scenario is very likely, but astronomers grudgingly accepted that it must have happened ...

While Charon is currently listed as a satellite or moon by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), consideration is being given to it perhaps being classified as a dwarf planet in its own right, ...

This composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft as it passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015. (Credit: ...

The center of mass is located between Pluto and Charon because there's not a huge difference in their diameters and masses, so they balance out somewhat. Pluto has a mass of 1.3 x 10 22 kilograms ...

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.

Implications for Pluto’s Geology and Other Moons Pluto and Charon likely exchanged some material between each other but didn’t lose a lot of material to the solar system. Pluto is bigger and started ...

Billions of years ago, in the icy outskirts of our solar system, two celestial bodies collided. Instead of a catastrophic destruction, they united briefly, spinning together like a cosmic snowman.