Friday, October 19, 2012

Moon Formed in Giant Impact: More Evidence

Proof of Moon's Birth in Giant Impact Found in Zinc: Study

Jesse Emspak, SPACE.com Contributor
Date: 17 October 2012 Time: 01:01 PM ET
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Moon Born in Violence
This artist's conception of a planetary smashup whose debris was spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope three years ago gives an impression of the carnage that would have been wrecked when a similar impact created Earth's Moon. A team at Washington University in St. Louis has uncovered evidence of this impact that scientists have been trying to find for more than 30 years. Image released Oct. 17, 2012.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Water on the moon boiled away in massive quantities in a cataclysmic evaporation event during   the moon's birth, bolstering the theory that a Mars-sized body collided with the Earth to form its only natural satellite, scientists say.

Researchers examined rocks collected by astronauts during NASA's Apollo lunar landing missions, as well as a meteorite that originated on the moon to make the find. They looked for traces of zinc, and found the ratios of heavy to light isotopes are greater than on Earth, which suggests the moon went through an intense evaporation event early in its formation.

The study is more evidence for the theory that the moon formed from a colossal impact, researchers said.

More - Link >>> http://www.space.com/18103-moon-formation-giant-impact-zinc.html

Source: Space.com .

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