How the Moon Formed: New Research Sheds Light on What Happened
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How the moon formed: New research sheds light on what happened:
How the Earth got its moon is a long debated question. The giant impact theory - which states that the moon formed from the a collision between the early Earth and a rocky body called Theia-has become the front runner among the explanations. But the details around how this happened are blurry and there are many observations that scientists are still struggling to explain.
Now a new study, published in Nature Geoscience, has shed light on what actually happened by solving one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the crash-why the moon ended up being nearly identical to Earth, rather than Theia, assuming she existed.
According to the giant impact theory, Theia was a body roughly the size of Mars or smaller-half the diameter of Earth. It smashed into the developing Earth 4.5 billion years ago. This collision produced enough heat to create magma oceans and ejected a lot of debris into orbit around the Earth, which subsequently coalesced into the moon.
The theory explains the way and the speed which the Earth and moon spin around each other. They are tidally locked, which means that the moon always shows the same side towards Earth as it spins around it. This is why it was such an achievement when the Chinese landed their Chang'e 4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon in 2019-direct communications with that side are never possible from Earth.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.