About the Moon -Post (1 of 6)

According to Greek mythology- Selene, the Moon goddess, is the daughter of Theia and Hyperion. The name of the hypothesized planet ‘Theia’ of the Giant Impact Hypothesis, which is the most acceptable explanation of the moon's origin till now, was taken.

According to this hypothesis, there was a Mars-sized planet between the Earth and Venus, and it struck the Earth at an oblique angle, when the Earth was nearly fully formed, some 30-40 million years after the formation of the Solar System. Theia's iron core sunk into the young Earth's core, and most of Theia's mantle accreted onto the Earth’s mantle. However, significant portions of the mantle material from both the Theia and the Earth have been ejected into orbit around the Earth to form the moon, at a distance of about one-tenth of its current orbit. The moon, ever since is drifting away from the Earth at the rate of approximately 38±0.004 mm a year.


There are also other hypotheses on the origin of the moon. But since these are all hypotheses (not theories), we need to know some basic facts about the moon to evaluate these hypotheses.
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