According to some hypotheses regarding the origin of the Moon, it was formed from matter that separated from the young Earth for one reason or another – for example, following a collision with a hypothetical object the size of Mars regarding 4.5 billion years ago.
To test this version, scientists used a mass spectrometer to study the chemical composition of six lunar meteorites extracted from the ice of Antarctica. These fragments fall to the Earth as a result of the collision of the Moon with other space bodies.
As a result of the analysis, scientists found that the isotopes of the noble gases of helium and neon contained in lunar meteorites coincide with the isotopes found in the solar wind (a stream of ionized particles). According to scientists, lunar rocks have never been exposed to it. This, together with the characteristic concentration of the argon isotope, supports the theory that these substances were inherited from the Earth.
