The moon formed inside a hot cosmic doughnut, scientists say

Since ancient times, people have marveled at the moon, worshipped the moon, written songs about the moon — and wondered how it came to be.

In recent decades the scientific consensus has been that the moon formed billions of years ago from debris cast off when a Mars-sized object dealt Earth a glancing blow. But a radical new theory holds that some long-ago giant collision actually disintegrated Earth, causing it to balloon out into a vast doughnut-shaped cloud of vaporized rock, which the scientists who developed the theory dubbed a “synestia." They say the moon subsequently formed within this cosmic maelstrom.

The new theory could reshape ideas about how Earth and other planetary systems came to be, according to the team of astronomers behind it.



Source: nbcnews

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