With this explosive mechanism, the proto-Earth could have had a longer day of four to six hours and an angular momentum similar to that of the present Earth-moon system. Yet this idea was also problematic. It required a huge concentration of fissile elements to have somehow arisen at a specific point on the core-mantle boundary.

Particles from Earth’s atmosphere have been carried into space by solar wind and have been landing on the moon for billions of years, mixing into the lunar soil, according to a new study. The research sheds new light on a puzzle that has endured for over ...

New research suggests that Theia, the object whose collision with Earth is theorized to have caused the formation of the moon, came from closer to the sun. Artist’s impression of the collision between the early Earth and Theia, with the sun in the far ...

The moon's surface may be more than just a dusty, barren landscape. Over billions of years, tiny particles from Earth's atmosphere have landed in the lunar soil, creating a possible source of life-sustaining substances for future astronauts. But scientists ...