About 4.5 billion years ago, “Thea”, A hypothetical planet about the size of Mars collided with Earth – completely different from what we knew at the time. We know that this impact created the Moon, but the research offers a new theory about the speed at which it happened: our satellite Should have Created in hours, not years.
According to NASA and university scientists Durhamat UKLoose material in a destructive collision, including parts of Theia and our planet’s mantle, immediately coalesced to form the Moon—contrary to the hitherto accepted theory that many years would have passed before our own natural satellite formed. , from the garbage.
NASA recently released a video with a very detailed simulation of the new probe. In it, shortly after the impact, two bodies, one large and one small, can be observed to form. The smaller one became the moon, and the larger one was absorbed by the earth and increased in size.
In this theory, large debris and Earth’s gravity push the small object forward in a wide, stable orbit. This evidence explains why the rotation of our planet and the orbits of its satellites have similar orientations.
The simulation also concludes with an answer to why the moon has an inclined orbit and thin crust, as the Moon’s interior does not completely melt and form at the moment of impact.
New insights into the formation of the Moon and its shared origin with Earth have been developed on a NASA supercomputer capable of simulating a cosmic event.
According to the space agency, the modeling used is the highest resolution of any simulation ever done to apply theories related to the origin of the moon or other major impacts.
A love story between the Earth and the Moon
Jacob GekererisA postdoctoral researcher at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley (California, USA), said the new theory opens up many possibilities about satellite evolution and the intertwined history of the Moon and Earth.
He signed off on an article about the discovery published this month Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The team used a program called SPH with Inter-Dependent Fine-Grain Tasking (SWIFT), which is designed to closely simulate the complex gravitational network and hydrodynamic forces acting on large-scale matter in space.
“We went into this project not knowing exactly what the results of these high-resolution simulations would be. So, in addition to the big surprise that fixed resolutions would give wrong answers by missing important aspects of the motion, it was even more exciting. The new results could include a moon-like satellite in orbit”, Kegeris celebrated.
He compared the importance of high resolution in such a survey to the use of binoculars. More powerful, more detailed. For comparison purposes, the standard resolution commonly used in this type of study is between 100,000 and 1 million particles. Now, the modeling manages to reach 100 million particles.
The new technology allowed researchers to observe new behaviors that previous studies could not see.
Moon and Earth have the same ‘DNA’.
This discovery may explain some of the questions already discussed about the formation and composition of the Moon. According to scientists, lunar samples already analyzed in the laboratory show that the isotopic signature (based on chemical elements) of this material is very similar to rocks on Earth, which are very different from those on Mars.
“It is likely that most of the material that makes up the Moon originally came from Earth,” NASA said on its official website.
“The more we learn about how the Moon formed, the more we learn about the evolution of our own Earth. Their stories may echo those of other planets that have been altered by similar or different collisions,” said Vincent Ake. University of Durham and co-author of the article.
Analysis of future lunar samples obtained by NASA’s Artemis missions could test the degree of consistency of these theories.
After the Apollo 11 mission returned in July 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin brought back 21.6 kilograms of lunar rock and dust to Earth, where the first clues to the moon’s formation were obtained.
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