The leading explanation for all of these mysteries is known as the giant impact hypothesis. According to this story, when the solar system was just getting started, a Mars-size protoplanet named Theia ...

Over 4.6 billion years ago, Earth took shape from a spinning cloud of dust and gas surrounding the young sun. Tiny particles ...

Furthermore, the findings bolster the theory that the moon formed when a giant, Mars -size protoplanet slammed into the young ...

The idea of more than one moon is the latest in a series of tweaks and challenges to the giant impact theory. “I think that some version of the giant impact theory will survive, but I don’t ...

The accretion hypothesis proposes that the Moon was created along with Earth at its formation. The fission theory suggests Earth had been spinning so fast that some material broke away and began to ...

Moon is slowly moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.8 centimetres per year. This gradual drift affects Earth’s rotation and ...

Several different formation theories for the moon have been proposed by scientists, The story that is best supported by all the available data, however, is that the moon formed during a giant impact ...

possibly challenging the widely accepted Giant Impact Hypothesis. The prevailing theory suggests the Moon formed from debris after a large object collided with Earth. This explains the mineral ...

Also, the moon does have some volatile elements, like water, trapped in rock — but a giant-impact, giant-energy event should have gotten rid of those. Despite those caveats, the giant impact ...

As such, it has some questions to answer. Among them is whether its water content is compatible with the giant impact theory of the moon's formation. Modeling of the giant impact scenario suggests ...