WebAug 2, 2024 · Textbooks say that the moon was formed after a Mars-size mass smashed the young Earth. But new evidence has cast doubt on that story, leaving researchers to dream up new ways to get a giant rock into orbit. An artist’s impression of a synestia, a hypothetical object made of vaporized rock that might have birthed the moon. WebJan 11, 2024 · The Moon is thought to have formed from the leftover debris of a high-speed collision between Earth and a smaller planet-like object called Theia — and the timing of this event is important...
The Moon
WebApr 23, 2024 · The Moon does not. Pretty much any tiny dent made on the Moon’s surface is going to stay there. Three processes help Earth keep its surface crater free. The first is called erosion. Earth has weather, water, and plants. These act together to break apart and wear down the ground. Eventually erosion can break a crater down to virtually nothing. The maria cover about 16% of the lunar surface, mostly on the side visible from Earth. The few maria on the far side are much smaller, residing mostly in very large craters. The traditional nomenclature for the Moon also includes one oceanus (ocean), as well as features with the names lacus ('lake'), palus ('marsh'), … See more The lunar maria are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient asteroid impacts on the far side on the Moon that triggered volcanic activity on the opposite (near) side. They were dubbed maria, See more There are many common misconceptions concerning the spatial distribution of mare basalts. 1. Since many mare basalts fill low-lying impact basins, it … See more • Solar System portal • Apollo 11 landing site • Volcanism on the Moon • List of maria on the Moon • Moon • Moon rabbit See more • Google Moon • Lunar and Planetary Institute: Exploring the Moon • Lunar and Planetary Institute: Lunar Atlases • Ralph Aeschliman Planetary Cartography and Graphics: Lunar Maps Archived 2004-02-06 at the Wayback Machine See more The ages of the mare basalts have been determined both by direct radiometric dating and by the technique of crater counting. The radiometric ages range from about 3.16 to 4.2 billion years old (Ga), whereas the youngest ages determined from crater … See more Using terrestrial classification schemes, all mare basalts are classified as tholeiitic, but specific subclassifications have been invented to further describe the population of lunar basalts. Mare basalts are generally grouped into three series based on their major … See more • Paul D. Spudis, The Once and Future Moon, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996, ISBN 1-56098-634-4. • G. Jeffrey Taylor (April 30, 2006). "Finding Basalt Chips from Distant Maria". Planetary Science Research Discoveries. See more orchard earth \u0026 pipe corp
Lunar Maria - Serious Science
WebJun 9, 2024 · According to most textbooks, Theia, the planet that hit the Earth, was about the size of Mars, and the impact was slow and grazing, spiraling out material into orbit and forming a disk of molten... WebApr 9, 2024 · Most of the earlier hypotheses for the Moon’s origin followed one of three general ideas: The fission theory—the Moon was once part of Earth, but somehow separated from it early in their history. The sister theory—the Moon formed together with (but independent of) Earth, as we believe many moons of the outer planets formed. WebApr 9, 2015 · Credit: NASA. The Moon is thought to have formed from the debris of a small planet that collided with the Earth. Since the composition of other planets in the solar system differs from that of the ... orchard e free church