The Moon's Unlikely Origins: A New Perspective on Formation A recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters has shed new light on one of the most enduring enigmas in planetary science: the Moon's formation.
Researchers at the University of Arizona have challenged our existing understanding of the Giant Impact Theory, which proposes that a catastrophic collision between Earth and Theia, a Mars sized object, formed the Moon.
The theory, first proposed by Robin Canup and Erik Asphaug in 2001, has been the foundation for most subsequent research on lunar formation.