So how did Earth and Pluto get such large moons? Normally, planets like Mars, Jupiter and Saturn acquire moons by gravitationally capturing them, a process that wouldn't happen with larger moons.

New research suggests Pluto may have had a “kiss” with its largest moon billions of years ago ... resulted in Charon rotating at a rate slower than Pluto, leading to their parting.

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.

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

Charon is smaller than Earth's moon ... and Glaciation on Cratering Records of Pluto's Largest Moon Charon: Implications for the Evolution of Kuiper Belt Objects', Earth and Planetary Physics ...

Pluto may have got romantic to capture its largest moon, colliding and engaging ... which makes it much more similar to the Earth's moon than any other moon in the solar system." ...

This composite image of Pluto, right, and Charon, its largest moon, showcases photos captured ... as much more scientifically valuable. Rather than a cold, featureless ball on the fringes of ...

For decades, astronomers have tried to determine how Pluto acquired its unusually ... Eight of the 10 largest Kuiper Belt Objects have large moons like Charon, Denton said, which means that ...