The Moon-forming impact between Earth and Theia is a cornerstone of planetary science. This event not only explains the Moon's creation but also shaped Earth’s early development. However ...

The giant-impact hypothesis posits that billions of years ago a Mars-sized body named Theia collided with the early Earth. The immense energy from this impact not only significantly altered Earth ...

Other scientists propose that after the impact all of the oxygen was able to move around in the hot vapor surrounding the Earth and moon, mixing up all the different oxygen isotopes and erasing any ...

These simulations corroborate the hypothesis that materials from Theia were introduced into Earth's lower mantle during the impact event. Ongoing debates persist among scientists regarding the ...

Caption MFM simulation of the canonical Moon-Forming giant impact. Here different colors trace different components of Gaia and Theia. The lower mantle of Gaia, denoted by the dashed circle with a ...

In this image, the proposed hit-and-run collision is simulated in 3D, shown about an hour after impact. A cut-away view shows the iron cores. Theia (or most of it) barely escapes, so a follow-on ...