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A Violent Splash of Magma That May Have Made the Moon

nytimes.com

1–10 of 18 posts

Re: A Violent Splash of Magma That May Have Made the Moon

#6
post #3

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?

Re: A Violent Splash of Magma That May Have Made the Moon

#7
post #3

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.

Re: A Violent Splash of Magma That May Have Made the Moon

#8
post #3

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?

I'm guessing it's the low energy light from the rendered sphere.

Re: A Violent Splash of Magma That May Have Made the Moon

#10
post #3

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?

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.

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