[Video Credit: LRO, SVC, NASA]
Wow! Great graphics in the video.
I suspect that if the moon hadn’t blown off most of our crust we wouldn’t have continents and oceans.
I love astronomy.
I seriously doubt that the Moon was ever part of Earth. The only evidence for the conclusion thjat it was is the fact that the Moon is now very close to the Earth. But there are lots of moons in the solar system, many even larger than Earth’s. I never hear anyone suggesting that Titan came into being when a Mars-sized object slammed into Saturn. Or that Io or Triton came from within Jupiter or Neptune, respectively.
The whole Mars-sized object hitting Earth, knocking the Moon out, seems contrived to me. Why does it take a Mars-like impact to create the Moon? A more plausible explanation would be that the Moon was passing by and got caught in the gravity of Earth and is now a satellite. Not to mention the fact that there are numerous Moon-like objects scattered all over the known solar system. Jupiter’s four big moons, Titan, Triton, at least four large asteroids, and the planet Mercury, to name just a few.
Wasn't there a song about that in "The Sound of Music"? "How do you solve a problem like maria?"
It’s a chunk of stuff that flew off the earth as a result of a violent collision.
But it isn’t spinning round and round, as ricochet objects would.
And it is moving away from the earth at the rate of a few centimeters per year, instead of rather fast.
Do these NASA guys get paid big bucks to do this supposing?