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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.
Conversely, the fission model, while it can account for the similarity in chemical composition and the lack of iron in the Moon, cannot adequately explain its high orbital inclination and, in particular, the large amount of angular momentum in the Earth–Moon system, more than any other planet–satellite pair in the Solar System. [3]
An old theory about how Earth’s moon was formed is getting a second look. An old theory about how Earth’s moon was formed is getting a second look.
An old theory about how Earth’s moon was formed is getting a second look. Skip to main content. Sign in. Mail. 24/7 Help. For premium support please call: 800-290-4726 more ...
He studied tidal forces involving the Sun, Moon, and Earth, and formulated the fission theory of Moon formation. [9] Darwin was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and won the Gold Medal of the RAS in 1892. He was elected to both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society in 1898.
The first lunar samples collected during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 led researchers to the theory that the moon was once a molten ball of magma. The 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar rocks ...
The competing theories were: volcanic eruptions blasting holes in the Moon; meteoric impact; a theory known as the Welteislehre developed in Germany between the two world wars which suggested glacial motion creating the craters. Grove Karl Gilbert suggested in 1893 that the Moon's craters were formed by large asteroid impacts.