"Scientists have proposed a shocking new theory for the origin of the moon, and their calculations suggest Earth once had a secret world hiding right next door. Astronomers believe that the moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago when a Mars-sized object called Theia smashed into Earth. Theia was completely destroyed in the collision and only remains as t races of minerals in Earth's crust and the moon."
"By looking carefully at the ratios of minerals in the Earth and the moon, researchers have worked out where Theia likely formed. Lead author Dr Timo Hopp told Daily Mail: 'Theia was likely one of tens to hundreds of planetary embryos that collided to form the planets.' Dr Hopp suggests that Theia was once on a stable orbit within the inner solar system, sitting just closer to the sun than Earth is today."
"Isotopes are variants of elements that have different numbers of neutrons in their atomic nucleus. In archaeology, researchers look at the levels of these isotopes, such as Carbon 14, in the process of carbon dating to work out the age of biological material. In astronomy, scientists are able to make use of a similar process. When the solar system formed, the isotopes of the various elements weren't distributed evenly."
The Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago when a Mars-sized body named Theia collided with Earth, leaving only mineral traces in Earth's crust and the Moon. Mineral and isotope ratio analysis can identify probable origin regions for planetary embryos. Theia likely belonged to a population of tens to hundreds of embryos and occupied a stable inner-solar-system orbit slightly closer to the Sun than Earth. For roughly the first 100 million years, Earth had a vanished neighbouring body. The impact incorporated surviving material into Earth or Moon, while any escaping debris was ejected and is now irretrievable.
Read at Mail Online
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