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The planet that hit the earth to create the moon - Question
Does anybody know the name of the mars-sized planet that supposedly hit the
earth and created the moon was called? I was watching Natural World just now and it said the name of the planet - it began with V or F i think. Thanks for any help. |
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On 2005-05-08, Matalog wrote:
Does anybody know the name of the mars-sized planet that supposedly hit the earth and created the moon was called? I was watching Natural World just now and it said the name of the planet - it began with V or F i think. I've heard "Theia" and "Orpheus" used, although as I understand it there's no "official" name. Theia is more common, I believe, and is also mythologically elegant - she was a minor goddess who gave birth, among others, to Selene... Others, hmm. V or F? "Phaeton" is (or at least can be, it's not a word anyone uses these days) pronounced with an F; it was hypothesised to exist where the asteroid belt is now, between Mars and Jupiter. (Fittingly, there is now an asteroid Phaethon..) I think some may now apply the term to a hypothetical "destroyed planet" there, but I vaguely recall a different name being used. These are all very unofficial, though. "Vulcan" was a hypothetical planet inside the orbit of Mercury; one or two nineteenth-century observations were made, but these are now thought to be mistakes; if it's there, we've singularly failed to notice it. -- -Andrew Gray |
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Matalog wrote: Does anybody know the name of the mars-sized planet that supposedly hit the earth and created the moon was called? I was watching Natural World just now and it said the name of the planet - it began with V or F i think. Thanks for any help. Since the event was a couple of billion years ago before any life existed on Earth, there was no one around to name it (unless you believe in ETs). Heck, not even the Earth had a name then. Now, it probably likely that the planetologists have given the impacting body a name; meteorites are usually given the name of the crater they create, but since there's no evidence of a crater, it's more likely to be called something like Proto-Moon, or Proto-Luna. (Planetologists tend not to be imaginative in naming things in my experience, although in the last decade or so they've gotten better.) It's possible some fringe group, astrologists or ufo believers have given it a name (maybe from non-European mythology, Shiva would probably be appropriate), but it's not recogized by any scientific group. |
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Matalog wrote:
Does anybody know the name of the mars-sized planet that supposedly hit the earth and created the moon was called? Theia ? All the best, Timo -- Prof. Timo Salmi ftp & http://garbo.uwasa.fi/ archives 193.166.120.5 Department of Accounting and Business Finance ; University of Vaasa http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/ ; FIN-65101, Finland Timo's FAQ materials at http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/http/tsfaq.html |
#5
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In article ,
Matalog wrote: Does anybody know the name of the mars-sized planet that supposedly hit the earth and created the moon was called? I was watching Natural World just now and it said the name of the planet - it began with V or F i think. I've heard it called "Vulcan" -- god of fire, blacksmith to the gods. Seems fitting. I'm sure that as a hypothetical body it doesn't have an official name. -- Hud Nordin Silicon Valley |
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Andrew Gray wrote:
On 2005-05-08, Matalog wrote: Does anybody know the name of the mars-sized planet that supposedly hit the earth and created the moon was called? I was watching Natural World just now and it said the name of the planet - it began with V or F i think. I've heard "Theia" and "Orpheus" used, although as I understand it there's no "official" name. Theia is more common, I believe, and is also mythologically elegant - she was a minor goddess who gave birth, among others, to Selene... Others, hmm. V or F? "Phaeton" is (or at least can be, it's not a word anyone uses these days) pronounced with an F; it was hypothesised to exist where the asteroid belt is now, between Mars and Jupiter. (Fittingly, there is now an asteroid Phaethon..) I think some may now apply the term to a hypothetical "destroyed planet" there, but I vaguely recall a different name being used. These are all very unofficial, though. "Vulcan" was a hypothetical planet inside the orbit of Mercury; one or two nineteenth-century observations were made, but these are now thought to be mistakes; if it's there, we've singularly failed to notice it. -- -Andrew Gray I've run across Phaeton (that's the usual spelling) in several older sources applied to the supposed planet between Mars and Jupiter. I don't know when or who started the application, but it was popular enough to be used for a couple of science fiction stories in the 30s or 40s. In Greek mythology, Phaeton was the son of the Sun god (either Helios or Apollo) and everyone doubted his claim. So he went on one of those quests that were so common in mythology and finally met his father and after big reunion scene, Daddy basically gives the kid a blank check (backed up by a binding oath- it's guy thing, ladies) to be granded any wish he wants. Of course, Teen Angel asks for the stupidest (nowadays, it would the coolest) thing possible, to drive the Chariot of the Sun, and typical Greek Tragedy results. V? Might refer to Vesta, the brightest asteroid, and thought to be the seventh planet of Hindu mythology. Or perhaps "Worlds in Collision", Velikovsky's idea that in historical times Venus was ejected by Jupiter and had several near collisions with Earth. I haven't run across Theia or Orpheus in any usage that I recall. Might be a term that a particular writer used and it never caught on, or from a science fiction source. There is a book, titled something like "The 12th Planet", that if I recall acurately, has 2 bodies collide to form the asteroids and Luna another independant planet. The names it uses are from Babylonian mythology. Again, it predates the proto-Luna idea, although proponants may have updated that idea to fit the theory. |
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Henry Spencer wrote: There has recently been speculation on theoretical grounds that there might be some small asteroids with orbits well inside Mercury's, After David Tholen's sighting some suggested that more apoheles are likely to exist because Earth, Venus or Mercury have a scattering effect that will occasionally place NEOs in smaller orbits. Is this the speculation you're referring to? -- Hop David http://clowder.net/hop/index.html |
#9
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Henry Spencer wrote: No, if I recall correctly -- it's been a while -- the hypothetical "vulcanoids" within Mercury's orbit would be leftovers from the early days of the solar system, the innermost solid remains of the original solar nebula. Perturbations from planets can't easily get you into an orbit like theirs. How stable would be the orbits of "vulcanoids"? They're packed in close to several planets and the sun. Mike Miller |
#10
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In article .com,
wrote: ...if I recall correctly -- it's been a while -- the hypothetical "vulcanoids" within Mercury's orbit would be leftovers from the early days of the solar system... How stable would be the orbits of "vulcanoids"? They're packed in close to several planets and the sun. The Sun overwhelmingly dominates the situation. Perturbations from the planets generally cause only small cyclic changes in orbital elements, unless you happen to be in resonance with a planet. My recollection is that a first look at the stability of vulcanoid orbits concluded that they were reasonably stable over billions of years. -- "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer -- George Herbert | |
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