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Newspapers in Education
The Moon was formed when a huge rock the size of Mars slammed into the young Earth.
A Very Happy Accident
Earth is a special planet. One reason is its moon. Our moon is very large compared to its planet. What’s more, our moon seems to have formed by a different process from all the other moons in the solar system.
When the solar system was very young (say, 30 million to 50 million years old), another object about the size of Mars slammed into the new Earth. This collision blasted a huge chunk out of Earth’s top layer. Much of the debris (rocks and dust) went into orbit around Earth. Over more millions of years, all this orbiting debris glommed together by gravity to form the Moon.
Scientists think that all the other more than 100 moons in our solar system formed right along with their planets or else were later captured into orbit by the planet’s gravity. So just how weird is our moon in the big universe?
Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers are able to see dusty disks around some young stars. These are called protoplanetary disks (“proto” means before). Over time, the dust around these stars will either stick together to form planets or else just drift off into space. Solar systems are common in the universe.
Even so, the Spitzer telescope has revealed a peculiar one. The star is still young, but old enough to have already formed planets. Yet, it is still surrounded by debris. Could the debris be a tell-tale sign of young planets smashing together or the type of collision that made our moon? Some astronomers think so.
Astronomers think that only 5 to 10 percent of solar systems experience the types of collisions that could make a moon like ours. It was a happy “accident” that occurred so long ago!
Read and listen to a scientist explain more about how the Moon formed and why that makes us so lucky. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/phonedrmarc/2003_march.shtml.
This article was written by Diane K. Fisher. It was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The Moon was formed when a huge rock the size of Mars slammed into the young Earth.
A Very Happy Accident
Earth is a special planet. One reason is its moon. Our moon is very large compared to its planet. What’s more, our moon seems to have formed by a different process from all the other moons in the solar system.
When the solar system was very young (say, 30 million to 50 million years old), another object about the size of Mars slammed into the new Earth. This collision blasted a huge chunk out of Earth’s top layer. Much of the debris (rocks and dust) went into orbit around Earth. Over more millions of years, all this orbiting debris glommed together by gravity to form the Moon.
Scientists think that all the other more than 100 moons in our solar system formed right along with their planets or else were later captured into orbit by the planet’s gravity. So just how weird is our moon in the big universe?
Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers are able to see dusty disks around some young stars. These are called protoplanetary disks (“proto” means before). Over time, the dust around these stars will either stick together to form planets or else just drift off into space. Solar systems are common in the universe.
Even so, the Spitzer telescope has revealed a peculiar one. The star is still young, but old enough to have already formed planets. Yet, it is still surrounded by debris. Could the debris be a tell-tale sign of young planets smashing together or the type of collision that made our moon? Some astronomers think so.
Astronomers think that only 5 to 10 percent of solar systems experience the types of collisions that could make a moon like ours. It was a happy “accident” that occurred so long ago!
Read and listen to a scientist explain more about how the Moon formed and why that makes us so lucky. Visit spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/phonedrmarc/2003_march.shtml.
This article was written by Diane K. Fisher. It was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
