Moon created in violent collision with Earth, clues in Apollo rocks suggest.

The Guardian ^ | 6/52014 | Ian Sample

[Natufian]

A new analysis of lunar rocks brought home by Apollo mission astronauts has shed fresh light on the violent birth of the moon. Researchers in Germany have found small but distinctive chemical signatures that suggest the moon formed when a giant planetary body slammed into the early Earth 4.5bn years ago.

Scientists have several theories for how the moon may have formed, but the "giant impact hypothesis" has been the leading explanation for some time. A cataclysmic impact between the Earth and a Mars-sized planet, known as Theia, would have scattered rock and dust from both bodies out into space, and these fragments would then have coalesced to form the moon.

[justlurking]

No, but Uranus spins sideways!

Yeah, well, err, ummm......

Your momma wears combat boots!

[Resettozero]

...part of it exposed. If you waited in line you could touch it.

Reminds me of this one tent at the N.C. State Fair in 1963...

[Squawk 8888]

The same thing happens with Mercury, which always has the same side facing the sun.

[RichardW]

I have wondered the same thing, many times. And I also understand that without the moon, life may be impossible on earth.

And can anyone conceive of what it would be like without the moon in the night sky?

I’m not a big fan of these cataclysmic events such as described in this article.

[SpaceBar]

Thirty years ago I learned of the striking similarties between lunar anorthosites and terrestrial Archean proto-continental chemical signatures. This ain’t new.

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

"So, when He said Let there be Light, He meant something other than the sun, moon, and stars. Lot of food for thought here."

I guess so, that's why I posted it right out of the KJV

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

"It sounds as though the proponents of this theory admit to the possibility that they are wrong. Do you?"

I may be wrong but God's word can't be, that's why I posted it exactly as it is written in the KJV.

[MeganC]

So, earlier, the Moon was LARGER than the Sun in the sky, and in the future, the Moon will be SMALLER than the Sun in the sky.

And some day, eons into the future, the earth will lose its grip on the moon and it will fly free.

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

"If someone dares ask “how” are they going to Hell?"

That, my friend, is between you and Christ, not you and me, for if I were able to send folks to hell there would not be many politicians, press and judges around.

[gorush]

OK, then. :{)

[MeganC]

And can anyone conceive of what it would be like without the moon in the night sky?

Dark.

[Resettozero]

You grown that mustachio back again?

[SgtHooper]

“SUGGEST”! That’s the keyword to not knowing for sure. About as definitive as Global Warming.

[Moonman62]

The poster you were responding to was promoting ignorance by using the Bible as a science book. One of the way people defend that is to threaten Hell on people who disagree with them.

[PigRigger]

If the moon was not our companion....life as we know it would likely not exist....

The earth's axis would wobble a great deal more than today....causing extreme climate changes...weather patterns, atmospheric winds and tides would also change dramatically

Some theorize the earth would be covered in ice if that were to be the case......a perpetual ice age.

[Tigen]

Yes and from this we have AIR BUS, ROLEX,Chevrolet, and OBAMA too.
My dog was a 3300 pound mini doxie then and in another trillion years nobody will care.:-( /sarc off

[Rebel_Ace]

"...How many moons of other planets do that?..."

By "do that" I assume you mean have an orbital period equal to its rotational period.

Countless bodies do that. It is a consequence of imperfect, "lumpy" planetary bodies, which greatly magnify the effects of "tidal friction".

Since the Moon and Earth are NOT perfect spheres, there are "lumps" which produce a slightly larger tidal influence when they happen to line up.

Orbit after orbit, as these "lumps" align, the rotational speed of the body slows, until the "lumps" stay in alignment.

Since the Moon is much less massive than the Earth, the Moon has slowed quicker, but each day on Earth, when Earth's "lumpy" side is facing the Moon, a teeny-tiny tidal brake is applied, slowing the Earth. Eventually, both the Earth and Moon will share the same rotational and orbital period with respect to each other.

Other planets and moons are tidally locked with their larger counterparts, it is quite common, and easily explained with resorting to any supernatural forces.

[CdMGuy]

I find it easier to believe that the moon is made of green cheese. So, we are supposed to believed that the moon was created by the collision of two planetary bodies? Yet, somehow the moon essentially is round. Could someone explain to me exactly how that is???

[GeronL]

According to the theory the moon was formed when all the debris, mostly dust, coalesced into one place due to something. I guess there was a piece big enough to have some gravity that everything was attracted to. So that would explain why it is round.

Otherwise we’d have a ring around the Earth and our tides and tilt and stuff would be thrown off kilter and life would never have evolved like it did.

or something like that.

I have doubts.

[Monty22002]

Tidal lock is an amazing thing, and so is the fact that the moon can perfectly fit (for now) into the sun for an eclipse.

There’s nothing magical about it. We landed on the sucker using Newton’s rules mostly. I’m not sure how this can turn into a religious debate really.