FSNews365 The Next Generation of News

Revolutionary Lunar Origin Theory Challenges Decades-Old Planetary Science Models Long-Standing Mystery: How the Moon Really Formed One of the longest-standing mysteries in planetary science is how the Moon came into being. More than a century ago, George Darwin suggested that powerful tidal and centrifugal forces acting on a rapidly spinning proto-Earth caused the Moon to break away and settle into orbit around the planet. However, the idea later conflicted with the laws of conservation. A proto-Earth rotating with a day lasting just two to three hours would have possessed roughly four times the angular momentum of the present Earth-Moon system, raising the question of where that excess momentum went. Theia Impact: The Dominant Modern Hypothesis The leading explanation that emerged instead proposes that a Mars-sized object, dubbed Theia, collided with the proto-Earth. The impact ejected material from both bodies into orbit, where it eventually clumped together to form the Moon. When ...