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It's believed that formation of the Moon occurred about 4.527 ± 0.010 billion years ago, about 30–50 million years after the origin of the Solar System. |
Well, that's the big question, since only 5-10% of systems host moons like Earth's Moon. In fact, moons like Earth's which are formed in catastrophic collisions are rare in the Universe. |
How was it formed, you ask? |
One theory suggests that the Moon was created when an object as big as your planet Mars smacked into the Earth billions of years ago! |
Rocky planets form from a porridge of dusty debris that surrounds young stars. They are gradually built up into bigger and bigger objects in messy collisions that spray lots of dust around. |
Since the Moon's gravity is too feeble to retain an atmosphere, the researchers speculate that some of the water vapour from the eruptions was probably forced into space. But some may also have drifted towards the cold poles of the Moon where ice may persist in permanently shadowed craters. |
Research also might yield additional insight into how long water had been on Earth. It also suggests that water was present within the Earth before the giant collision that formed the Moon. Which points to two possibilities: Water either was not completely vaporised in that collision or, it was added a short time - less than 100 million years afterwards - by volatiles introduced from the outside, such as with meteorites. |
But now I'm getting hungry..... Marvin, want to help me make some Moon Cookies? |
Can you land on the Moon carefully? Test your skill here! |
Don't know Marvin.....Time Adventurers...find the rest of the crew and let them know I'm taking a little trip with Mavin, OK? |
Do you always bring a space chair with you? |
They were created during volcanic events on the Moon |
Now, work by a team of English scientists reinforces an earlier suggestion that evidence of life on the early Earth might be found in meteorites on the moon. |
It' wouldn't be easy to find these meteorites, in fact, it would be quite a challenge. They might have to dig down into the surface of the Moon but what a great find it would be if they found evidence of early terrestrial life there! |
Never know when one might need a snack! |
1/2 cup wheat germ 1-1/2 cups peanut butter 1-1/2 cups honey 3 cups dried milk 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs |
I did bring some water with me..so I'll just wet my hands, because it's easier to work with the dough.... Almost done Marvin! |
Can you unscramble things? Try to unscrabble these! |
How good is your moon memory? Well .....let's check it out here! |
Article and Photos licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
Photos of Captain Bootsie Bear , Copyright 1999-Present by J Shahverdian |
Videos courtesy of NASA |
Music from the Album Nights and Days by Greendjohn Distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Belgium |
