Pluto has five moons, but Charon stands out from the rest. Charon is half the size of Pluto, “making it the largest known moon relative to its parent planet in our solar system,” NASA notes.

Scientists have uncovered a new theory to explain how Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, formed their unique relationship. Citing a recent paper published in Nature Geoscience, the New York Times ...

The theory could explain how the dwarf planet (yeah, we wish Pluto was still a planet, too) could snare a moon that is around half its size. The team behind this research thinks that two frigid ...

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

Pluto is probably best known for being a demoted planet. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union stripped it of its ...

roughly the size of Arizona from north to south. Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh while he worked at Lowell Observatory in Flagship, Arizona. Sputnik Planitia is a white basin ...

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 in size that they are considered a double dwarf planet ...

A new study suggests that the origin of Pluto's largest moon was quite different than our own. Here's what you need to know.

A new theory about Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, could alter how planetary systems are taught in U.S. schools. Scientists suggest that 4.5 billion years ago, Pluto and Charon experienced a "kiss ...

7, 2025 — A researcher has used advanced models that indicate that the formation of Pluto ... the Earth-Moon system. Both systems include a moon that is a large fraction of the size of the ...

but the size and orbit of Charon are hard to resolve with this model. But Pluto and Charon are different from Earth and the Moon, too – they are both smaller (the Moon is 3,475 kilometers across ...