Geologic Clock: Interior Of The Earth Helps Determine The Moon's Age
Monday, April 7, 2014 - 03:10
in Astronomy & Space
The Moon formed nearly 100 million years after the start of the solar system, according to a paper based on measurements from the interior of the Earth combined with computer simulations of the protoplanetary disk from which the Earth and other terrestrial planets formed. The team of researchers simulated the growth of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) from a disk of thousands of planetary building blocks orbiting the Sun. By analyzing the growth history of the Earth-like planets from 259 simulations, the scientists discovered a relationship between the time the Earth was impacted by a Mars-sized object to create the Moon and the amount of material added to the Earth after that impact. read more