Artist's illustration of the Moon's formation

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   Fraser Cain (fraser@m.universetoday.com)'s status on Friday, 28-Mar-2025 18:29:55 JST Fraser Cain

   It's widely accepted that the Moon formed when a Mars-sized planet crashed into the Earth, creating a stream of debris that coalesced into the Moon. But when did it happen? Current estimates range from 4.52 to 4.35 billion years ago, but a new presentation at LPSC pushes that timeline much earlier. They analyzed some of the oldest lunar crustal rocks and calculated that they formed just 65 million years after the Solar System formed, much earlier than previous estimates.

   https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2025/pdf/2111.pdf