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Luna's crust is made of the same rocks as the Earth's
crust, so it was part of the Earth long time ago. Some astronomers believe that a collision between two rigid bodies called Protoearth and Theia produced the Earth and the Luna, but it could not have been collision between two rigid bodies because: 1. Seismic velocity structures of the Moon's middle and lower mantle are consistent with melting of the upper mantle only. 2. The Moon's volatile elements are not depleted as expected from the giant impact hypothesis. For example, the Rb/Cs ratio of the Moon is lower than the Earth's. 3. There is no evidence that the Earth ever had a magma ocean. I believe that these facts can be explained if Theia was made mostly of hydrogen and helium. The collision was between the Protoearth and Theia's atmosphere. The gaseous Theia could not survive for a long time close to the sun, so it seems likely that it was originally located in the asteroid belt and was knocked toward the Protoearth by Jupiter shortly before the collision. The existence of gaseous Theia in the asteroid belt is supported by the Titius-Bode Law. If Theia was a gas planet, it must have collided with the Protoearth twice a within short period of time. Here is the proof: 1. At the time of the first collision the Protoearth orbit was nearly circular because its planetary neighbors (Venus and Mars) have nearly circular orbits. 2. The first collision removed 25 km thick layer of crust from 70% of the Protoearth surface. This means that the first collision changed its circular or nearly circular orbit into eccentric orbit. After the first collision the Protoearth was inhospitable to life because its eccentric orbit exacerbated temperature differences between summers and winters. If the Protoearth's orbit had been eccentric for a long time, it would have perturbed Venus and Mars and it would have probably collided with one of these planets. 3. The Earth orbit is nearly circular now, so something must have changed its eccentric orbit. It was probably another soft collision between the Protoearth and Theia's atmosphere. When Jupiter hurled Theia into the eccentric orbit, Theia became the biggest comet in the solar system. It was loosing volatiles fast. When it collided with the Protoearth for the second time, it still had enough gas to ensure soft collision. Probability of this scenario is so low that it could not happen twice in the entire universe. If this is the only way to make a planet that has both liquid water and permanent continents, all extraterrestrial planets are devoid of permanent continents. These planets may have ephemeral islands, but these islands can neither support advanced land species nor can they provide abundant minerals for the ocean's surface. This means that the extraterrestrial planets are probably devoid of life except for small enclaves fertilized by underwater vents and inhabited by blind animals. __________________________________________________ _______ Australian astronomer Nick Hoffman was probably the first person who noticed that the Earth is very rare planet because it has both liquid water and large continents. Here is his article: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html |
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