Watts Up With That? By Javier Barbuzano 3/10/2020
One of the most important scientific outcomes of the Apollo program was giving scientists the opportunity to explain our Moon’s origins.
Geochemical analysis of the Apollo lunar samples suggested that our Moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago, when a Mars-sized body known as Theia hit Earth when our planet had almost completely formed. Computer models indicate that in this “big splat,†most of the material that ended up forming the Moon—between 70% and 90% of the satellite’s composition—came from Theia.
Although most planetary scientists think the giant impact actually happened, evidence of Theia has been hard to find. Lab measurements of the isotopic ratios of multiple elements such as oxygen have found that Earth and the Moon are virtually indistinguishable. They couldn’t find a trace of Theia’s chemical signature.
A New Way of Looking at Lunar RocksNow a group of researchers has finally detected oxygen isotope differences between terrestrial and lunar rocks, something that could ease constraints when creating lunar formation models and rule out some of the most extreme scenarios.
More:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/10/origin-of-the-moon-new-evidence-in-old-rocks-for-lunar-impact-theory/
