Sealed with a Kiss: The Cosmic Romance Behind the Formation of Pluto and Charon
Schedule
Thu Feb 12 2026 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm
UTC-07:00Location
2414 Regent Drive, Boulder, CO, United States, Colorado 80309 | Boulder, CO
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Scientists have theorized for decades that Pluto's unusually large moon Charon formed through a process similar to Earth's moon – a massive collision between two planet-sized bodies, that left Pluto and Charon behind. The process by which this giant impact occurred, and how Charon became subsequently captured as Pluto's satellite, remained poorly understood until recently. In this talk, we'll learn about some of the cutting-edge simulations that revealed new insight into Pluto and Charon's initial collisions, as well as how that impact may have big implications for the system's geological evolution, including how we get to the surfaces that were imaged by New Horizons in 2015.Dr. Adeene Denton, NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, SWRI
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Where is it happening?
2414 Regent Drive, Boulder, CO, United States, Colorado 80309Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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