The little daugher of Earth: the Moon

Hi over there, so I´m back again to give you another interesting fact about our cosmic neighborhood (our Solar System). But now, I’d like to focus on our closest cosmic neighbor: our dear Moon. Did you know how it was formed?

When I was a little kid I heard several stories about the Moon, for example that when an angel was playing around somewhere in the Universe his white pearl necklace broke and the pearls spread over the cosmos and one of those was captured by Earth, so that white pearl became what we know now as the Moon. And there is also another story that is actually a Mayan legend that goes more less like this:

“Once upon a time Quetzalcoatl (the main Mayan god) decided to take a human form and walk all day long on Earth. When it went dark, he decided to take a break but then a little rabbit got close to him and when he told the rabbit he was hungry the rabbit offered itself as a meal for the man. Quetzalcoatl was so impressed of the attitude of the rabbit that he stamped the image of the rabbit in the Moon so the rabbit could be always remembered for its gentle hood.” (Nayita 2007)

Ok, now I’ll focus on the real story of the creation of the Moon. Nevertheless, there are actually four dominant theories about the formation of the Moon.

1. The capture theory: the Moon formed in some other part of the Solar System and was gravitationally snared by Earth. (Burnham 138)

2. The fission theory: the Moon was once part of Earth but calved from it early in their story. (Burnham 138)

3. The sister theory: Earth and Moon formed together but independently, as many of the moons in the outer Solar System formed. (Burnham 138)

4. The giant impact theory: a glancing, high-speed collision between the primitive Earth and a Mars-size body smashed Earth’s crust and melted rock deep within its mantle. Melting rock from both Earth and the impacting body was jettisoned into space, condensing into a ring orbiting debris (so Earth actually had a ring!, well, it’s supposed to, but it’s just a theory). This material coalesced, cooled, and solidified into the Moon. (Burnham 139)

Bibliography:

Burnham, Robert. Astronomy: The Definitive Guide. Singapore: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2003.

NAYITA. NAYITA'S BLOG. 3 august 2007. 13 september 2011 <http://nayita.wordpress.com/2007/08/03/un-conejo-en-la-luna-leyenda-maya/>.