OK. ‘Splain this to me, a total NOVICE on this space/universe/star stuff...
Is the Moon a chunk of Earth that went flying off at one point during The Big Bang or something?
And how come all of our planets are so d@mn ROUND? Why are they all perfectly spherical? Is that because of our Sun’s gravitational pull?
(Bet you didn’t know a hayseed like me could even SPELL ‘spherical,’ LOL!)
And does the ‘Sun’ have a name? Does the ‘Moon’ have a name?
Inquiring minds need to know! :)
The sun and the moon are named “Sol” and “Luna”, respectively.
That's just what happened when God rolled them between his palms.
The most widely accepted explanation for the origin of the Moon involves a collision of two protoplanetary bodies during the early accretional period of Solar System evolution, roughly 4.5 billion years ago. This is long after the Big Bang, which was about 13.8 billion years ago.
And how come all of our planets are so d@mn ROUND?
Gravity pulls them into that shape.
Why are they all perfectly spherical? Is that because of our Sun’s gravitational pull?
It's not because of the Sun, and they're not perfectly spherical. Saturn, for instance, has an equatorial radius of about 60,000 kilometers but a polar radius of only 54,000 kilometers.
And does the ‘Sun’ have a name? Does the ‘Moon’ have a name?
Sure...in English, "The Sun" and "The Moon" :-)
They're sometimes referred to by their Latin names, "Sol" and "Luna", respectively, to distinguish them from other stars and moons.
The current consensus is that a Mars-sized planet smashed into the proto-Earth a bit more than 4 billion years ago, leading to the formation of the Moon, made up about 50 percent of the proto-Earth and 50 percent the impactor. In this model much of the rest of the mass of the impactor got added to the proto-Earth.
Mars-sized is one-eighth present Earth mass.
Our Moon is 1 percent the mass of the Earth.
You’d think after a nice summary like that, I’d just stop, but the fact is, the model is IMHO incorrect.
When the Days Were Shorter
Alaska Science Forum (Article #742) | November 11, 1985 | Larry Gedney
Posted on 10/04/2004 10:31:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/1234919/posts?page=4#4
There are MANY theories but so far they are all just "Theories". Some of these seem to make sense and seem to be supported by various such theories but to-date NONE have been proven to be absolutely correct.
And how come all of our planets are so d@mn ROUND? Why are they all perfectly spherical? Is that because of our Sun’s gravitational pull?
It is due almost primarily due to GRAVITY. You can say erosion but that is just a product of GRAVITY. You can say it is it is due to the spin but then again that is due to GRAVITY.
(Bet you didn’t know a hayseed like me could even SPELL ‘spherical,’ LOL!)
It just so happens that I personally know many hayseeds. Some even consider me one such individual - hayseed (that is).
And does the ‘Sun’ have a name? Does the ‘Moon’ have a name?
The SUN is called "SOL" or just "The Sun". In other languages and religions they gave it different names - to many to waste my time enumerating.
The MOON is called "The Moon" or "Luna". AGAIN - Different languages and different religions gave it different names.