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The Moon's heavily cratered far-side. The origin of the Moon is usually explained by a Mars-sized body striking the Earth, creating a debris ring that eventually collected into a single natural satellite, the Moon, but there are a number of variations on this giant-impact hypothesis, as well as alternative explanations, and research continues into how the Moon came to be formed.
Artist's depiction of a collision between two planetary bodies. Such an impact between Earth and a Mars-sized object likely formed the Moon.. The giant-impact hypothesis, sometimes called the Theia Impact, is an astrogeology hypothesis for the formation of the Moon first proposed in 1946 by Canadian geologist Reginald Daly.
Theories for the formation of the Moon must explain its late formation as well as the following facts. First, the Moon has a low density (3.3 times that of water, compared to 5.5 for Earth [49]) and a small metallic core. Second, Earth and Moon have the same oxygen isotopic signature (relative abundance of the
The Earth and the Moon were long thought to be virtually identical in composition. Now we know they are not.
The Earth and Moon formed at the same time when the protoplanetary disk accreted; The Theia-impact scenario described above; The lunar rock samples retrieved by Apollo astronauts were found to be very similar in composition to Earth's crust, and so were likely removed from Earth in some violent event. [14] [18] [19]
An old theory about how Earth’s moon was formed is getting a second look.
Theia, an ancient planet, collided with Earth to form the moon, scientists believe. A new study suggests Theia could have also formed mysterious blobs called large low-velocity provinces, or LLVPs.
When combined with the Earth–Moon system's common orbit around the Sun, the period of the synodic month, from new moon to new moon, is 29.53 days. Viewed from the celestial north pole, the motion of Earth, the Moon, and their axial rotations are all counterclockwise. Viewed from a vantage point above the Sun and Earth's north poles, Earth ...