How Did Our Moon Come Into Being

How Did Our Moon Come Into Being - After the sun turned to light, the planets of the solar system started to came into being. But it took another hundred million years for Earth's moon to form. There are three theories as to how our Moon could have been formed: the giant impact hypothesis, the co-formation theory and the capture theory.

Giant Impact Hypothesis

This is the dominant theory trusted by the scientific community. Like the other planets, the Earth came into being from the leftover cloud of dust and gas circling the new born sun. The early solar system was a fierce place, and a number of heavenly bodies were formed that never finished it to full planetary rank. The giant impact hypothesis states, one of these collided into Earth not long after the young planet was formed.

Recognized as Theia, the Mars-size body crashed with Earth, hurling vaporized lumps of the young planet's crust into space. Gravity bound the banished particles together, making a moon that is the biggest in the solar system relative to its parent planet. This sort of creation would clarify why the moon is made up chiefly of lighter elements, making it less dense than Earth. The material that made it came from the crust, while leaving the planet's rocky core unaffected. As the material sketched together around what was left of Theia's core, it would have centred near Earth's ecliptic surface, the path the sun journeys through the sky, which is where the moon circles today.

Co-Formation Theory

Moons can also make at the same time as their host planet. Under such a clarification, gravity would have produced material in the early solar system to come together at the same time as gravity bound material together to form Earth. Such a moon would have a much related composition to the planet, and would describe the moon's current position. However, though Earth and the moon have much of the same material, the moon is less dense than our planet, which would probably not be the case if both began with the same heavy elements at their centre.

Capture Theory

Possibly Earth's gravity caught a passing body, as took place with other moons in the solar system, such as the “Phobos” and “Deimos” Martian moons. Under the capture theory, a rocky body created elsewhere in the solar system could have been strained into orbit around the Earth. The capture theory would clarify the dissimilarities in the composition of the Earth and its moon. However, such satellites are often strangely shaped, rather than being circular bodies like the moon. Their paths don't incline to line up with the ecliptic of their host planet, also unlike the moon.

Though the co-formation theory and the capture theory both describe some elements of the survival of the moon, they leave many questions unrequited. At present, the giant impact hypothesis appears to refuge many of these questions, making it the best model to fit the scientific proof for how the moon was formed.