The number of planets that orbit the sun depends on what you mean by “planet,” and that’s not so easy to define ...

15, 2025 — New observational data and simulation models have confirmed a new type of planet unlike anything found in the Solar ... Pluto-Charon Formation Scenario Mimics Earth-Moon System ...

Both systems include a moon that is a large fraction of the size of the main body, unlike other moons in the solar system. The scenario also could support Pluto's active geology and possible ...

Scientists have discovered a new type of planetary collision called “kiss-and-capture,” where Pluto and proto-Charon briefly ...

That made all the difference, Denton said. The simulation showed that Pluto and its impactor didn't merge, lose a lot of material to the solar system, or become fluid blobs. Researchers now wonder ...

Our solar system was doing just fine without humanity for 99.995% of its lifetime Our Solar System is quite “young”, at least as far as solar systems go. Using radiometric dating, scientists were able ...

Charon is unusual because it is the largest moon in the solar system compared with its parent body. In fact, Charon and Pluto are so similar ... latitudes go decades without seeing any sunlight.

Researchers aren’t entirely sure when the impact occurred, but it likely happened about 4 billion years ago, early on in the history of the solar system ... Pluto formed as a colder body without ...

Our Solar System, with the Sun and the planets orbiting around. A motion graphics 3d representation. Clip with and without planets' names. Flight to Earth among the planets of our Solar System. The ...

Pluto likely acquired large moon Charon in a “kiss and capture” collision billions of years ago. It may have created a subsurface ocean on the icy dwarf planet.

which may have allowed Pluto to develop a subsurface ocean without requiring formation in the more radioactive early solar system. "The compelling thing about this study is that the model ...