According to the theory of the great impact, 4 thousand 500 million years ago the collision between the Earth and an embryo planet gave rise to the Moon.
If we are to ask origen of multiple elements of our reality, then that of the Luna cannot escape the radar. The big impact theory It comes from the 70s of the last century and, from then on, it remains one of the most solid visions regarding how the natural satellite of the Earth.
In order to better know the big impact theory, we spoke with Verania Echaide Navarro, doctoral student in physics from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). This was what she told National Geographic in Spanish.
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The great impact that gave rise to the Moon
In 1974, Hartmann y Davis They proposed what is known as the big impact theorywhich states that the moon formed when a planet the size of Mars collided with Earth more than 4.5 billion years ago. The collision, the scientists said, hurled the top layer of the blue planet into space, where debris combined to form our natural satellite.
The big impact theory was presented by its authors at the symposium of the International Astronomical Union, held at Cornell University. Davishad recently collaborated in the mission apollo 13 and entered the Institute of Planetary Sciences, at the same time that he was a pioneer in models of planetary growth.
“Since then, the theory has been studied by the world scientific community. It has been supported by different lines of evidence, such as the similarities between the isotopic compositions of the earth and the moon and the presence of anomalies in the density of the satellite”, adds the specialist.
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Theia, the cosmic body that collided with Earth
Besides the Tierrathe other body that participated in the crash that gave origin to the moon it’s a embryo planet who has been identified as Theia. It is said that it had an orbit quite close to that of our world, a condition that led to the impact.
Of the alleged crash, Theia turned out to be the most affected star, since it lost a large part of its mass. In turn, the event had implications for Earth’s atmosphere. According to the big impact theorymuch of the debris from the embryonic planet became trapped in the gravitational field of the Tierrathus giving rise to the conformation of a new body: the Luna.
At what point is the big impact theory currently?
Thanks to new observations and techniques, different models have been developed to explain the collision and the subsequent moon formation. In addition, research continues on the big impact theory. It might be that, as a result of it, fundamental questions regarding the early evolution of the solar system and the constitution of planets can be answered.
“Hartmann has pointed to some areas that need further investigation, such as determining the exact composition of the object that collided with our planet and how the energy released in the collision affected the evolution of earth and moon”, concludes Verania Echaide Navarro.
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