Giant Impact Theory on EARTH Magazine

Moon formed from pulverized Earth mantle

Wed, 18 Jan 2017 14:29:09 -0500

Artist's conception of the violent impact that formed the moon. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI.

Scientists have long thought that the moon was formed when an impactor crashed into Earth, some 100 million years after the planet’s formation. But details of this collision, and how the moon formed in its aftermath, remain puzzling. Now, researchers have found new potassium isotopic evidence that suggests the moon condensed from a superheated cloud of Earth’s mantle material after an extremely violent collision vaporized the impactor and much of the proto-Earth.

New lunar research answers old questions, poses others

Sun, 05 Oct 2014 21:12:09 -0400

This optical micrograph shows pyroclastic glass beads in a lunar rock sample brought back during the Apollo missions. Scientists detected lunar water in glass beads similar to these in 2008. Credit: G.J. Taylor, HIGP.

From its close perch in the sky, the moon has long mystified artists, lovers and scientists. Now a quartet of recent papers — all of which touch on the moon’s violent birth and turbulent infancy — may help scientists put two long-standing lunar mysteries to rest, while deepening a third enigma and suggesting a speculative solution to a fourth.

Moon could have formed from Earth after all: Reviving and revising the giant impact theory

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:16:26 -0500

New models indicate that the moon could have indeed been born from Earth following a giant collision. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Two new models show how a moon compositionally similar to Earth could have formed from a giant impact. Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Scientists are revisiting the age-old question of how Earth’s moon formed. New models indicate that it could have been born from the Earth following a giant collision after all.