Theia tagged posts

Researchers have traced chemical clues in rocks from Earth and the Moon to uncover the origins of Theia, the body that struck Earth billions of years ago. About 4.5 billion years ago, a colossal impact between the young Earth and a mysterious planetary body called Theia changed everything—reshaping Earth, forming the Moon, and scattering clues across space rocks. By examining subtle isotopic fingerprints in Earth and Moon samples, scientists have reconstructed Theia’s possible composition and birthplace.

Reconstructing Theia’s makeup: A new study in Science identifies t...

Most theories claim the Moon formed out of the debris of this collision, coalescing in orbit overa months or years. A new simulation puts forth a different theory — the Moon may have formed immediately, in a matter of hours, when material from the Earth and Theia was launched directly into orbit after the impact.

Earth has a large amount of water and a relatively large moon, which stabilizes Earth’s axis. Both are essential for life to develop on our planet. Scientists have now been able to show that water came to Earth with the formation of the moon.

Planetologists at the University of Münster (Germany) have now been able to show, for the first time, that water came to Earth with the formation of the Moon some 4.4 billion years ago. The Moon was formed when Earth was hit by a body about the size of Mars, also called Theia. Until now, scientists had assumed that Theia originated in the inner solar system near the Earth...

This is astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. on the moon in 1971 with the Apollo 14 mission. Credit: NASA

Formation occurred 4.51 billion years ago, 40 million to 140 million years older than scientists previously thought A UCLA-led research team analysed minerals from the moon called zircons that were brought back to Earth by the Apollo 14 mission in 1971. The moon’s age has been a hotly debated topic, even though scientists have tried to settle the question over many years and using a wide range of scientific techniques. “We have finally pinned down a minimum age for the moon; it’s time we knew its age and now we do,” said Mélanie Barboni, geochemist in UCLA.

The moon was formed by a violent, head-on collision between the early Earth and a “planetary embryo” called Theia, a UCLA-led team of ge...