- Till now, we all know that our planet Earth’s only moon was formed after a collision between Earth and something else that spun material into space. But a Harvard graduate has claimed through a research paper that the moon could have formed from the the ring of a vapourised planet named ‘Synestia’.
- They say that it’s a doughnut-shaped, rapidly spinning cloud of rock and dust that can constitute part of the formation of rocky planets.
- As per the Harvard graduate student Simon Lock and UC Davis planetary scientist Sarah Stewart, ”a synestia forms when two planet-sized objects within the protoplanetary disc collide, resulting in the torus-shaped cloud of hot dust and liquid rotating around a molten core. This then collapses back down under its own gravity to become a planet.”
- They say that it was inside Earth’s synestia that the Moon formed, rather than a collision with a Mars-sized body called Theia 4.5 billion years ago that threw material into Earth’s orbit.
How moon was formed
- According to the NASA, ‘The moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth and the debris formed into the most prominent feature in our night sky. It is the only celestial a body beyond Earth that has been visited by human beings.’ The mars-sized body that collided with Earth is known as Known as Theia.
Basic facts about Moon
- Distance from the Earth: About 239,000 miles.
- Moon year (time to orbit the Earth): About 27 Earth days.
- Moon Day: About 27 Earth days.
- Minimum temperature: -387 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Maximum temperature: 253 degrees Fahrenheit.
