Hunting for Theia
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Theia hypothesis. Image: science.qj.net
Just how did the moon come to be? Some believe a planet, well ok a “proto-planet” the size of Mars slammed into Earth way back when the solar system was getting organized. Naturally as you would expect, such a collision would create a lot of debris and the thinking is the debris eventually coalesced into our moon.
Experts claim such an impact would account for much of the lunar geology including the size of the core and lunar rock density and composition. A collision could account for Earths axis tilt too. The whole idea is known as the “Theia hypothesis”.
Great, so where might have such a proto-planet come from and how do we prove it?
A couple of Princeton researchers: Edward Belbruno and Richard Gott believe Theia could have formed in one of the five Lagrange points, specifically L4 and or L5. In simple terms, Lagrange points are points where the gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth are equal and they make a good place for objects to collect. In this case, asteroidal debris and left over “solar system stuff” ended up forming Theia – they think.
It so happens we have spacecraft cruising through those Lagrange points right now. While they are passing through they will be taking images to see if they can detect any leftovers. Actually the spacecraft will be taking the images and we (you can too!!) do the looking.
To learn more about the theory read all about it at Science@NASA. The article tells how you can participate or you can go here and find out.
Linked images unless otherwise noted and source: Science@NASA
I’m all for the impact theory, but basing it on the Lagrange points leaves a lot of unanswered questions. For one, it can’t have accreted at two points at once. Also whatever hit must have been at least planetoid like, not like a swarm of bees. Since material should build up in L4 and L5 in roughly equal amounts, if there was that much mass at whichever L point, there should still be an equivalent mass at the other today, or else you must account for the missing mass in both points.
Try the theories of Zetchin (I have a bad memory and my books are packed for moving house
)
He states that a planet with a wider orbit than pluto (about 64,000 earth-year revolution, mentioned in Mayan et al) did crash through and made a whole lot of mess, including the Moon which is supposed to be one of its satellites, split a planet into the asteroid belt) and visiting spacemen “Anunakis” that mined in South Africa (plus a spaceport in Mt. Sinai)
why didnt they just say nibiru ???theia isnt its name more coverup???