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The Extreme Origin of Our Moon

The moon was formed from a violent collision with the early Earth. It may have been even more extreme than scientists thought.

The Extreme Origin of Our Moon

[DIGEST: Astronomy Magazine, Gizmodo, The Verge]

The moon’s origin story is a violent one: most astronomers agree that the moon was formed soon after the Earth’s formation, when a Mars-sized object called Theia struck Earth at an angle, maybe chipping off a chunk of the planet. The molten remains of Theia, the chunk of debris, and a cloud of vaporized material from the collision were captured in Earth’s gravity. They then eventually coalesced together to become the moon that we know today, coated in a layer of Earth dust from the collision and thus very geologically similar to Earth.

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