When Moons Collide They Form One

[robert01]

Reading the article myself I marvelled at how astronomers view the world - those two moons supposedly crashed into each other at a "very slow" speed of 25 kilometers per second, or a good 5000 miles per hour.

Makes you wonder why people can get done for 'speeding' at such lethargic speeds such as 100 kilometers per hour, doesn't it?

It is because it is in relation to how everything else in the universe moves. A lot faster. Plus when you have the amount of empty distance between things as you do in space 25km/s isn't all that fast.

OT: The only way I would even believe this theory is if they took samples from the other side of the moon and it was like some completely different kind of material, or was carbon dated to a completely different time.

 

[octafish]

Anyone else hungry for cheese, now?

Also, I wonder how much differently both the Earth and human history would have come out if we'd had two moons instead of one. Tides would likely act much more differently, for one thing, and who knows what sort of early mythologies we would have come up with to explain two circles in the sky instead of just one?

Ahem... Three, not two. There is that big burning circle (square for minecraft fans) in the sky during the day.

Anyway I definetly recall hearing an astronomer talking about this on the radio a couple of weeks ago.

Also I want a toasted cheese sandwich now.

 

[Logic 0]

So that's what happened two moons entered and one moon left.

 

[Draconalis]

Granted sometimes I don't pay attention to some of the articles from week to week, but I have to say... I rather enjoy these few non game related articles of scientific interest.

I hope more at too come from time to time.

 

[A-D.]

Actually just to throw that out. Wasnt it also been claimed once that our moon is actually another planet altogether that collided with the Earth itself and basicly jumpstarted the whole evolution of life? And the Moon as it is today is just the remnant of that other planetoid?

At least i seem to recall something like that from..last year or so. And now they are claiming its collided with the "original" Moon basicly? Ehr..meh. Honestly i think the big craters and all are meteroid impacts. Its a fact that the biggest ones get swallowed by Jupiter or any of the other high gravity planets (Jupiter is only the biggest aside from the sun in terms of pure gravity) between the edge of our solar system and Earth. Everything else basicly tends to get caught by our Moon. Hence while it also causes the tides and all that, its basicly our natural shield. The Meteor that wiped out the Dinosaurs was basicly one of the lucky ones to get through, a lot either burn up in the atmosphere, get eaten by jupiter or just smack into the moon.

 

[Greg Tito]

There is no dark side of the moon, really.

Thread winner. I had that quote going through me head the whole time I wrote this post. That's why I used that image.

Greg

 

[BanicRhys]

I thought the current theory was that a mars sized object collided with earth, and the debris gathered into the moon?

Either way, we now know wthat the moon has a history of colliding with stuff... It's only a matter of time...

[HEADING=1]DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY...[/HEADING]

Well actually the moon is getting farther away from the Earth so that's unlikely.

 

[Coffinshaker]

I really don't see this as being plausible...

if there was a collision, we'd see tons of particles and debris in orbit. we'd also see an asymmetric shape.

the reason the "dark side" looks and is composed differently is because it gets hit by meteors and asteroids. can't get hit on the inside very easily...

 

[devilkingx]

I really don't see this as being plausible...

if there was a collision, we'd see tons of particles and debris in orbit. we'd also see an asymmetric shape.

the reason the "dark side" looks and is composed differently is because it gets hit by meteors and asteroids. can't get hit on the inside very easily...

actually, if you shoot 2 bullets together and they hit(as in shoot from opposite directions so they collide mid air) it molds into 1 thing

and mythbusters did this thing with steel if there is a large enough explosion the 2 pieces will mold into 1 piece

so its plausible based on that stuff

EDIT: mythbusters video below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGi0w7ycRKk

 

[Synonymous]

Shouldn't the headline read "some astronomers"? A blanket "astronomers" sounds like there's a scientific consensus already on the issue, which there isn't; it's a "hey, *maybe* this happened" hypothesis newly proposed by a team of two which needs (lots of) further investigation and research to be upgraded to "yes, this was near-definitely the case."

 

[Alon Shechter]

I opened this listening to Dark Side of the Moon. Aw yeah.
Then again, I always listen to Dark Side of the Moon...
Cool stuff, scientists!
Here, have a happy crater

 

[Strazdas]

Well, we really dont have enough proves for this theory, not yet at least. And im much more willing to believe about the gravity than this really. gravity is more powerful than most people think.

 

[TimeLord]

Is this new news i am sure Scientists have been saying this for years or did i fall through a gap in time again.

I agree. This theory is not new, I've been told this happened since primary school decades ago!

 

[Fasckira]

Old theory is old! Im guessing some new paper has been released recently to bring this one back into the limelight.

I recall reading somewhere on the two moon theory that some of the debris peppered the earth and helped create some more of the more interesting landscape features that couldn't easily be attributed to plate movement and the likes.

It would be nice if one day we did master time travel to the extent of at least being able to send a camera back of to the begining of earth and let it record all this. You could send a camera back to key points through history then just pick up the cameras present day.... just need to alter our laws of reality to allow time travel

 

[willsham45]

...the earth already has two moons, the second one is called Cruithne it is a lot smaller and takes a different orbit to the moon but its a moon none the less.

 

[Nayr]

I'm going to stick with the giant impact hypothesis. How would two sattelites explain the same isotopes and quantities on Earth and the moon of ummmm it's either oxygen or water, but I think oxygen. Screw it I'm to lazy to google it.

 

[standokan]

Does this say anything about werewolves?

 

[Eekaida]

ok, if the earth was once a moon, what was it orbiting? Earth orbits the sun becuase its a planet, but a moon needs to orbit something that isn't a sun. What were these moons orbiting?

They're theorizing that Earth once had two moons, not that Earth was a moon.

AAH, I read that wrong. Makes more sense, but it still raises questions about orbit. I'm sure there's some mathmatical equation that can figure out how two moons can orbit a planet this size without colliding/ collide only once, but I'm no mathmatician

 

[Eekaida]

...the earth already has two moons, the second one is called Cruithne it is a lot smaller and takes a different orbit to the moon but its a moon none the less.

3753 Cruithne ( /ˈkrɪnjə/, from Old Irish [ˈkrɪènɛ]; Modern [ˈkrɪhnʲə] or [ˈkrɪnʲə]) is an asteroid in orbit around the Sun in approximate 1:1 orbital resonance with the Earth. It is a periodic inclusion planetoid orbiting the Sun in an apparent horseshoe orbit.[2] It has been incorrectly called "Earth's second moon", but it is only a quasi-satellite.[2]

According to wiki...