[D Rider]

Approximately 4.6 billion years ago, the solar system was a cloud of dust and gas known as a solar nebula. Gravity collapsed the material in on itself as it began to spin, forming the sun in the center of the nebula.

The nebular hypothesis has been an embarrassment for about 200 years. The sun has over 99% of the solar systems mass, while the planets have about 99% of the angular momentum. If it did not receive the endorsement of an aged Laplace, it would have died back then.

[Purdue77]

So Laplace couldn’t transform this into a viable hypothesis? :)

[JustaTech]

Our solar system is a late comer in a galaxy which had metal-rich systems billions of years earlier. Assuming life happens elsewhere, by whatever means, there were probably civilizations with billion-year histories already in place before the solar system formed. In that span of time the possible extent of technological development is virtually unlimited. For all we know, the solar system and our Earth-Moon habitat was artificially crafted from natural elements like a Japanese garden.

That scenario might be the only explanation for the Moon, which otherwise should not exist at all, especially where it is now.