Researchers Come Up With a New Theory Surrounding Origin of The Moon

Collision with Earth's 'Little Sister' resulted in the formation of the Moon, according to a new study.

The primordial planet smashed into baby earth and created a cloud of debris that eventually formed into the moon, the study said.

The study, reportedly, helps resolve a long-standing puzzle about why Earth and the moon are nearly same in terms of composition.

"For some 30 years this contradiction was a major challenge to physicists grappling with the formation of the moon. The hope was that better simulations might resolve this issues, but it turned out that the progress with simulations gave essentially the same results, giving rise to the 'isotope crisis,' as this problem came to be called," astronomer Alessandra Mastrobuono-Battisti, with the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, wrote in email to Discovery News.

Researchers used advanced computer modeling and ran dozens of simulations of later-stage planet formation. They found that within 100 million to 200 million years, each simulation typically produced three to four rocky planets as a result of colliding embryos and planetesimals.

"It turned out it is not a rare event ... On average, impactors are more similar to the planets they impact compared with different planets in the same system," Mastrobuono-Battisti said.

"Our study was the first to reconsider this issue, now exploring it with large data and ... wide range of models. One should always be careful when basing the assumptions on limited data," she added.

The findings of the study was published in the journal Nature.