A new NASA study claims that the moon formed in just hours

Most theories about the moon’s formation say that it came from a mixture of debris over the years after the Earth collided with a huge mass. Using the powerful computational power of a supercomputer, the scientists simulated the phenomenon and came to the conclusion that the process would not have taken so long, but could have been completed in a few hours.

Credit: Nicholastoma

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this is study The revolutionary, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, offers an alternative approach and presents a major opportunity in the search for our natural satellite. “This opens up a whole new set of possible starting points for understanding the evolution of the Moon.” Jacob Kegres, lead author of the research said. The most established model behind the moon’s formation says it was formed when an object called Theia, which was the size of Mars, collided with our Earth billions of years ago.

Although this theory explains a lot about the moonEven today, scientists are still confused about why the composition of the moon is similar to that of the earth. Thus, by analyzing in detail a large number of lunar samples, the latter was able to predict that a significant part of the material that the Moon is made of came originally from Earth.

If we stick to the popular theory of the Earth’s collision with Theia, it will be difficult to see why the Moon is so similar to the Earth. According to NASA, this theory is unlikely because Theia exploded in orbit and mixed only with a little material from Earth. Unless Theia is similar to Earth in theory, NASA experts say, this theory won’t hold up. “We found that giant collisions can instantly put a satellite with a mass and iron content similar to the Moon into orbit far beyond Earth’s limits.” Write the authors.

In this new simulation, the researchers used more Earth materials to create the moon, including its outer layers, which may explain the close composition. According to NASA, the hypothesis of faster formation in one step provides a clearer solution. It also explains the mystery of the moon in a wide orbit inside of which it has not completely melted, also explaining features such as the moon’s tilted orbit and thinner crust.

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NASA is currently on the Artemis mission, which aims to have a crew on the moon by 2025, and believes that research from that mission will help learn more. Knowing more about the Moon will bring us closer to the truth about how our Earth became a habitable world. “The more we know about how the moon came into being, the more we discover the evolution of our Earth” said Vincent Eke, co-author of the article.