For 50 years, models of the Moon's origin assumed it assembled slowly from a debris disk. Simulations that correct a key physical oversight — temperature-dependent rock strength — produce an intact Mo

Moon Formation Mystery Solved by Collision Temperature

Kimberlie Montano @kimberliemoonformation Ig: kimberliemoonform

The water distribution inside the Moon appears to be somewhat lopsided.

We already know a decent amount about how planets form, but moon formation is another process entirely, and one we're not as familiar with. Scientists think they understand how the most important moon in our solar system (our own) formed, but its violent birth is not the norm, and can't explain larger moon systems like the Galilean moons around Jupiter. A new book chapter, also released as a preprint paper on arXiv, by Yuhito Shibaike and Yann Alibert from the University of Bern, discusses the differing ideas surrounding the formation of large moon systems, especially the Galileans, and how we might someday be able to differentiate them.

Theia crashed into earth and formed the moon, the theory goes. But then where did Theia come from? The lead author on a new study says

Little is known about the long-destroyed moon-forming planet, Theia. But it may have been born in the inner solar system—just like Earth—a new study suggests