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8:31am June 26, 2014

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How the Moon Formed: Lunar Rocks Support Giant Impact Theory

A new analysis of lunar rocks now supports the idea that the moon was born in a gigantic collision between the nascent Earth and a mysterious planet-size rock, scientists say.

Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago, and scientists think the moon came into being shortly afterward. The prevailing explanation for the moon’s origin, known as the Giant Impact Hypothesis, is that it resulted from two protoplanets (or embryonic worlds) that slammed together — the Earth as it was forming, and a Mars-size object called Theia. A lot of debris went on to form the moon.

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