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.

Unlike Earth, where the Moon orbits the planet, Pluto and Charon orbit each other, forming a binary system that is more similar to the Earth-moon system than any other moon in the solar system.

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.

Pluto and its largest moon Charon could have come together via a 10-hour “kiss-and-capture” encounter after a grazing collision

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

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

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