A study published in the August issue of the scientific journal Science Advances confirms the theory that our Moon would have originated from a collision between Earth and a celestial body with dimensions similar to those of Mars. Known as the “giant impact”, this statement says that the natural satellite would have been created from the fusion of debris from the Earth’s mantle.
The research was carried out by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) from the analysis of six samples (volcanic glass) of lunar meteorites obtained by NASA in Antarctica in the mid-2000s. The material helped scientists understand how the impact of Earth with the Mars-like space object created a “circumterrestrial disk”, also known as “synestia”, whose materials served as the basis for the formation of the Moon, which grew and condensed rapidly, according to the American website Science Daily.
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During its formation, researchers believe that our natural satellite was nourished by elements such as olivine and apatite, two types of rocky minerals present on Earth and that were also in the lunar samples used in the study. Scientists also discovered that the water on the Moon would come from non-metallic chondrite meteorites, which were part of the debris disk (synestia).
According to Patrizia Will, lead author of the study, cited by Science Daily, the advantage of working with lunar volcanic glasses is that it was possible to identify the chemical impressions, or isotopic signatures, of helium and neon gases, materials formed by the Sun, native to our planet. , and which were inherited by the Moon.
“Finding solar gases, for the first time, in basaltic materials on the Moon that are not related to any exposure on the lunar surface was a very exciting result,” says the scientist.
As the American website shows, it was only possible to reach these conclusions because the fragments analyzed in the study, the lunar volcanic glasses, were collected in Antarctica and not on the surface of the Moon, which suffers the consequences of constant exposure to solar radiation, for not having atmosphere to protect it.
According to the researchers, the “giant impact” hypothesis proves to be quite viable and the next step will be to unravel how our planet obtained the gases it inherited from the Moon. For now, they believe they arose from comets and asteroids in the Solar System.
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