Did Space Collision Create The Moon?

A study claims that cataclysmic space collision between Earth and a forming planet created the moon.

16:41 02 February 2016

In a new study, scientists have claimed that the cataclysmic space collision between Earth and a planet called Theia around 4.5 billion years ago caused the formation of the moon. They believe that the high-speed crash melded the two planets together and split off a small chunk that became our moon.

 

Professor Edward Young and a team at the University of California have arrived to the conclusion after they have examined oxygen isotopes inside moon rocks brought back by the Apollo missions.

 

"We don’t see any difference between the Earth’s and the Moon’s oxygen isotopes; they're indistinguishable," said Professor Young.

 

"Theia was thoroughly mixed into both the Earth and the Moon, and evenly dispersed between them.

 

"Theia, which did not survive the collision (except that it now makes up large parts of the Earth and the moon) was growing and probably would have become a planet if the crash had not occurred," Young added.