Pluto's big moon Charon may have a different origin story than scientists suspected. New research suggests the two bodies engaged in a celestial kiss and tango.

Pluto and its moon Charon's meeting may be traced to a "kiss-and-capture" collision between the two. (CN) — The question of how Pluto captured its moon Charon may have been answered, thanks to new modeling suggesting a “kiss-and-capture” scenario linked the two bodies together.

Until now, the thinking was that Pluto and Charon formed like Earth and our Moon. New research has flipped that script.

Simulations suggest Pluto and its largest moon may have gently stuck together for a few hours before Charon settled into a stable orbit around the dwarf planet

New models reveal Pluto and Charon may have spent some of their early history locked together in an embrace after a grazing collision.

Overturning decades of assumptions about how Charon formed, researchers have revealed an entirely new form of cosmic collision.