Two Impacts May Have Formed the Moon
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 6:16 am
It may have taken two tries to make the Moon.
Scientists have long thought that the Moon formed with a bang, when a protoplanet the size of Mars hit the newborn Earth. Evidence from Moon rocks and simulations back up this idea.
But a new study suggests that the protoplanet most likely hit Earth twice. The first time, the impactor (dubbed "Theia") only glanced off Earth. Then, some hundreds of thousands of years later, it came back to deliver the final blow.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... -the-moon/
Scientists have long thought that the Moon formed with a bang, when a protoplanet the size of Mars hit the newborn Earth. Evidence from Moon rocks and simulations back up this idea.
But a new study suggests that the protoplanet most likely hit Earth twice. The first time, the impactor (dubbed "Theia") only glanced off Earth. Then, some hundreds of thousands of years later, it came back to deliver the final blow.
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... -the-moon/