11–18 of 18 posts
I wonder how much bigger the Earth would have been if it hadn't been smashed by a planetesimal? (Assuming the theory is true).
Why does the Moon fall back to Earth at the end of the simulation?
From the article: > During Earth’s earliest days, it was covered by a sheet of molten silicate rock. Dr. Hosono’s team wondered what would have happened if Theia had crashed into Earth at that time, rather than during a later, cooler, more solid phase. This is the simulation of how a moon could have been formed, this is not supposed to represent the formation of the actual Moon.
The animation doesn't show a moon in a stable orbit forming, so obviously it doesn't even show how it could have happened.
Why does the Moon fall back to Earth at the end of the simulation?
Also, if you play the animation slowly, you can see a brighter circle forming at the point of impact, before the impact. Is that part of the simulation or an artifact of the animation, I wonder?
Reading about things like this (matter ejected from Earth into space) + recent research on extremophiles makes wonder if panspermia might be an accurate theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, if you play the animation slowly, you can see a brighter circle forming at the point of impact, before the impact. Is that part of the simulation or an artifact of the animation, I wonder?
My interpretation is that the surface magma, cooled down hence the dull orange, is blown away by the bow shock in the atmosphere from the other body entering the atmosphere. This exposes the hotter, brighter, underlying magma. Could of course be entirely wrong.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
My interpretation is that the surface magma, cooled down hence the dull orange, is blown away by the bow shock in the atmosphere from the other body entering the atmosphere. This exposes the hotter, brighter, underlying magma. Could of course be entirely wrong.
Wouldn't that require an unreasonably thick atmosphere? Our current atmosphere is only around 10 miles high. (Obviously, it all depends on what you consider as your cutoff.)
I didn't think about timescale though, the bow shock would require very short timescale (if at all plausible like you said).
If it happens on longer timescales, then maybe it's just surface heating from the emission of the other body.