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Article: Researchers: Moon once part of Earth.
- Article from:
- United Press International
- Article date:
- August 15, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 United Press International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BOULDER, Colo., Aug 15, 2001
Astronomers released convincing new evidence Wednesday that the Moon was formed when a wandering rock the size of Mars collided with Earth.
Simulations performed at the Southwest Research Institute, or SwRI and the University of California at Santa Cruz show that a single impact by a Mars-sized object in the late stages of Earth's formation could account for an iron-depleted Moon and the masses and angular momentum of the Earth-Moon system. Previous models have required that the Earth-Moon system be substantially modified after the lunar-forming impact.
This moon-forming blast was so powerful -- 300 trillion times ...