The Enduring Mysteries Of The Moon

The moon — linked in myth with goddesses of witchcraft and the hunt, with gods of magic and wisdom — is nearly as old as Earth itself, with enigmas of its own. As close as the moon is to Earth, we are still far from solving all its mysteries — from how the moon was born to whether life on Earth has its past and future there.

How was the moon made?

Most scientists think the moon was born from a gargantuan collision — when a young, 30-million-year-old Earth was sideswiped by an embryonic planet the size of Mars some 4.5 billion years ago, with debris from our planet and this impactor eventually coalescing into a molten, red-hot moon.

Curiously, while the latest computer models suggest most of the moon came from the impactor, lunar samples from the Apollo and other missions suggest the moon is very chemically similar to Earth's mantle. Full Story

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