An Alien World Might Be Hiding Inside Earth, Study Says
Caroline Delbert 42 mins agoA new study makes the case that Earth was formed by an enormous impact.
Primordial“embryo planet†Theia lives on in Earth’s mantle.
The study models how the impact could lead to Earth’s present-day interior.
In new research, scientists speculate that Earth was formed by a Mars-sized rogue planet known as Theia—with identifiable bits of the alien planet still found in Earth’s interior.
Scientists believe the same fateful impact also formed the moon, but this is the first time they’ve studied the specific traces of the clash that remain behind in the Earth’s mantle.
In 2016, UCLA researchers proposed that Earth could actually be two planets that fused together after colliding: itself and Theia. At the time, scientists said they believe the two planetary masses mixed together uniformly. Now, Qian Yuan of Arizona State University and his colleagues suggest the mysterious dense spots in Earth’s interior are the specific pieces of Theia that are still intact.
Yuan’s team presented a paper earlier this month at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. In it, they explain:
<..snip..>
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/an-alien-world-might-be-hiding-inside-earth-study-says/ar-BB1fgW7s?ocid=msedgntp