Did Venus give the Earth the Moon? Incredible new Moon formation theory

US, WASHINGTON (ORDO NEWS) — The only natural satellite of our planet may have been in the past part of Venus, which once had its own satellite, but subsequently lost it, is assumed in the new theory. According to this theory, the gravity of the Earth captured the old satellite of Venus, which is now known to us as the Moon.

This view is different from the views of most moon explorers, who believe that the moon formed almost 4.5 billion years ago when a planet-sized celestial body crashed into young Earth at high speed.

This hypothesis of a giant collision, however, is not without flaws, as well as all the alternative theories of moon formation that were discussed this week at the Origin of the Moon conference held by the Royal Society in London, UK.

“I think that the key to understanding the nature of the moon can be the fact that Venus does not have a satellite, and we certainly should pay close attention to Venus in this regard,” said Dave Stevenson, professor of planetology from California Technological Institute, which introduced the “Venusian” theory at this conference.

Where did the moon come from the earth?

The theory of “capture of the Moon” suggests that the Earth, using its gravity, pulled into its orbit a cosmic body that had been formed earlier in another place, making it its satellite.

However, this hypothesis begins to look much less convincing when it comes to the peculiarities of the geochemical composition of the moon and the earth. Analysis of lunar rock samples collected by astronauts from NASA‘s Apollo mission demonstrated that the isotopic composition of our natural satellite strongly resembles that of the Earth.

Isotopes are varieties of chemical elements that have the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons. Two isotopes are chemically equivalent to each other.

And if the isotopic composition of the Moon is the same as that of the Earth, then it becomes difficult to explain from the perspective of “capture theory,” said Alex Halidei, head of the department of science at Oxford University. Such similarity of the isotopic composition indicates “either that the substance of which the Moon consists, in fact, was previously part of the Earth, or that the matter from the disk that gave rise to the Moon was intensively mixed with the matter of which the Earth consists.”

Thus, one of the most probable versions of the origin of the natural satellite of our planet is the hypothesis that the Moon formed as a result of that gigantic cosmic body hit the ground many years ago. However, some of the theory, pref Laga “Venusian” the origin of the Moon, rather curious, he said.

Wandering Satellites

Did Venus ever have its own satellite? The formation of any satellite of Venus should have occurred immediately after the formation of the solar system, when a huge number of celestial bodies swept across the planetary system of our star in different directions.

Therefore, Venus may have acquired a satellite after a giant collision, and then this satellite was lost again as a result of a collision or as a result of the satellite’s orbit. The latter means that an object passed near the system of Venus and forced the satellite to leave its orbit, the authors of the “Venusian” theory explain.

“Even assuming that there was a gigantic collision, we cannot yet determine the origin of the object involved in the collision. It could be a protoplanet. It could be a satellite of another planet or another space object, or even a large asteroid. None of these scenarios can be ruled out yet, ”the authors of the new work summarize.

—

Online:

Contact us: [email protected]

Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.