Charon also has an abnormally circular orbit of Pluto, with its orbital eccentricity (a value between 0 and 1, where 0 is a perfect circle and 1 is an open-ended parabola) only being about 0.000161.

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 ...

Pluto was always in a tough spot when it came to being a planet. Just 1,477 miles across, it's only one-fifth the diameter of Earth. It did have five known moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and ...

This visual may only be used for the purpose of posting and/or reporting of this news release. Credit information must be provided as indicated.

Astro Brief is a collaboration between KSMU, the Missouri Space Grant, and MSU's Department of Physics, Astronomy and ...

“New Horizons shattered a major paradigm of planetary science,” says Alan Stern, the mission’s principal investigator. “Pluto turns out to have as much complexity as Mars or Earth, so much so that I ...

The controversy endures over Pluto's true status, but the solar system underdog continues to capture hearts across the globe. Clyde Tombaugh didn't set out to discover Pluto when he sent his ...

But on Charon, Pluto's nearest moon, they found this most familiar of geological features. There was more, on Pluto itself, that recalled the American mid-west. Dark streaks on Pluto's plains ...