The Moon may have formed in just five hours
In short: The giant impact hypothesis suggests a Mars-sized protoplanet struck the young Earth, creating a debris field. While the Moon was long thought to have coalesced over millions of years, new simulations suggest a much more rapid timeline.
The collision, known as the Big Splash, involved the protoplanet Theia hitting Earth approximately 4.5 billion years ago at a velocity of 9.8 km/s at a 45-degree angle. This catastrophic event sent shockwaves around the planet and ejected massive amounts of debris into space.
New NASA simulations suggest that the Moon could have emerged from this debris field in as few as five hours. If confirmed, this groundbreaking discovery would fundamentally change our understanding of how natural satellites form and provide a new framework for studying other historic impacts across the cosmos.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Plot Twist: Moon Formed Within Hours Instead of Millions of Years
- Also: How long did it take to make the moon? Maybe just 5 hours, new simulations suggest
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