Thanks to one of the most precise simulations that have been made of the formation process of the planets in our Solar System, the mystery surrounding the formation of our satellite, the Moon, has been revealed. How was it really formed?
The approach of the “great impact theory” explains that our planet collided millions of years ago with another named Theia and this caused a small part to fly off and end up mixing with the remains of this celestial body, Theia, which would later form the Moon. However, this theory disturbed the scientific community considering that less than 1% of collisions were between equal planets . And the truth is that lunar rock samples show an isotopic composition very similar to rocks on Earth. How is this possible if other bodies in the solar system have different compositions? Since, in fact, with this approach, Theia should have formed a Moon very different from the current one.
To solve this puzzle, a team of researchers led by Alessandra Mastrobuono-Battisti from the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) carried out simulations of the collisions between protoplanets and compared the composition of the resulting planets with the impactor celestial body. The results of these 40 simulations with 80 planetary embryos and some 1,000-2,000 smaller fragments have revealed that most of the planets that emerged from the impact had different compositions, but up to 40% of them had very similar isotopic compositions.
This would explain why the Earth and the Moon share isotopes as important as oxygen: A large fraction of planet-impactor pairs have almost identical compositions, therefore, the similarity in composition between the Earth and the Moon could be a natural consequence. of a giant impact ”, the scientists clarify in their study that has been published in the journal Nature . Therefore, “it is quite probable” that the Earth collided with a twin planet and that our satellite arose from that collision.
