Through computer simulations, scientists have been able to trace the origin of the Moon and how this satellite was formed.
According to Space, through running simulations on a supercomputer, a research team led by physicist Jacob Kegerreis from Durham University suggests that the Moon was formed in just a few hours after an event that caused Earth to partially rupture, based on the Theia hypothesis involving a large planet the size of Mars colliding and merging with Earth billions of years ago.
Such a collision could have created the Moon and set it on its orbit around Earth instead of forming a proto-planetary disk, thus leading to the gradual formation of the Moon, according to Kegerreis’ research.
In this new scenario, Earth’s natural satellite melted less during its formation, and a significant part of the Moon was created immediately after the collision between Earth and Theia.
The hypothesis of the Moon forming in a matter of hours suggests that the satellite contains various materials similar to Earth’s, which were previously gathered through lunar research programs.
The Moon is believed to have formed around 4.5 billion years ago after Earth collided with a celestial body roughly the size of Mars, referred to as “Theia.” Previous theories suggested that this collision created a proto-planetary disk, gradually giving rise to the Moon. This also implied that the Moon was primarily composed of Theia’s planetary material rather than Earth’s.
This hypothesis was then shaken when rock samples from the Moon were found to have compositions very similar to Earth’s crust.
The supercomputer used by Kegerreis’ research team to simulate the Moon’s formation is called the DiRAC Memory Intensive service (COSMA), located at Durham University, England. The Moon generated by COSMA also exhibits a similar crust to that of Earth.
“This formation process may help explain the presence of similar materials between Moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts and Earth’s mantle,” said physicist Vincent Eke, a member of the research team.
The research conducted by the Durham University research group considered hundreds of collision scenarios involving various angles, speeds, masses, and rotations of Theia and Earth. The simulations demonstrated that a large Moon-like satellite could exist in Earth’s vicinity.
Previously, scientists believed that a rapidly forming celestial body near Earth would be torn apart by tidal forces originating from our planet’s gravitational pull, which favored older theories.
The simulations conducted by Durham University show that such an object not only could exist under the influence of tidal forces but could also be pushed into a higher orbit, avoiding the risk of destruction by similar forces.
The research findings by the group were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters on October 4th 2022