People have taken comfort in the fact that the moon is always on an odyssey around the sun.
The moon was not around at one time. Scientists don't know how it got there despite being Earth's closest neighbor.
The leading theory has been that a planet the size of Mars crashed into Earth billions of years ago, spattering a world's worth of gas, magma, and metals. A study published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests that the moon could have formed in one swift exchange with a large chunk of baby Earth.
The research, which centered on hundreds of extremely high-resolution computer simulations of such a collision, could help resolve a longstanding head-scratcher for scientists. There are potential answers to why the moon is tilted. Explanation of a defining moment in Earth's evolution is one of the things scientists want to piece together.
The animation shows how the new model would unfold. A planet called "Theia" throws a primitive version of Earth like a paint ball. Rather than forming a thin disk of debris, it splits into two blobs. The smaller body is thrown onward by the earth's gravity. The baby's cord is severed.
The dance of destruction is contrasted by a musical score of soft music.
"I've always thought it would be great to actually have some, as it were, real sound effects, getting some explosions in there," said Jacob Kegerreis, the lead author on the paper.
"I've always thought it would be great to actually have some, as it were, real sound effects, getting some explosions in there."
Scientists have been running computer models of the impact in lower resolution for a long time. NASA collaborated with Durham University's Institute of Computational Cosmology in England to perform simulations that were up to 1,000 times higher resolution than the standard, testing and observing different crash angles, speeds, and sizes.
The behaviors that emerged from boosted computing power were not seen before. Researchers doubted the result as a numerical problem with their model when they spared evidence of a crash that could split into two blobs.
Hundreds of millions of tiny particles are used to represent the planet. The system should behave correctly if they can describe how those materials interact.
The concept is explained by dropping a ball.
He said that if you build a ball out of Lego pieces, it could split in an unrealistic way. If you have a lot of them, you could find a way to make it more realistic.
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Scientists looked at the giant- impact theory over a decade ago. Mars meteorites and objects from other parts of the solar system have different compositions, despite the fact that the lunar rocks have the same chemical signature as Earth's mantle. Non- Earth sources should look different.
They wondered how the moon could be made of both the Earth and a mystery planet.
The issue is still being debated by scientists. A moon made from mostly Earth stock is the result of a new NASA computer simulation.
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Understanding the composition of the moon is difficult because scientists base their knowledge on a small area near the equator. NASA scientists are looking forward to the Artemis moon-landing missions that will explore an entirely different region to gather more data.
The study opens up new possibilities to look at how the moon formed.
The events are violent and disruptive, but they are also very constructive. They were a key part of leading the Earth toward its current state.
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