On July 14, 2015, a spacecraft flew by Pluto for the first time! NASA's New Horizons spacecraft spent 9.5 years making the ...

It took over nine years for New Horizons to reach Pluto after blasting off atop an Atlas 5 rocket on Jan. 19, 2006. After ...

The icy volcanism of Charon may be caused by its internal ocean freezing, expanding, and cracking the outer shell of the moon if it was thinner than expected. The icy volcanism of Pluto's large ...

Pluto and its moon Charon possibly “kissed” billions of years ago, a new report shows. Elenarts – stock.adobe.com. The authors suggest that Pluto and Charon, located in the Kuiper Belt at ...

New Horizons photo shows moon's "colorful and violent history." NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has returned the best color and the highest resolution images yet of Pluto’s largest moon, Charon ...

Charon most likely formed when an impact on Pluto blew some or most of its crust into space, which went into orbit and coalesced to form Charon (and perhaps the smaller moons, too).

More data on Pluto on Charon or from other worlds with similar icy landscapes, could help solve the mystery. Meanwhile, Menten and her colleagues want to dig deeper into Charon’s geological past.