Origin of the Moon

The moon is the only natural satellite of the earth. Like the origin of the earth, there have been attempts to explain how the moon was formed.

Earth and Moon rotating.

In 1838, Sir George Darwin suggested that initially, the earth and the moon formed a single rotating body. The whole mass became a dumb-bell shaped body and eventually it broke. It was also suggested that the material forming the moon was separated from what we have at present the depression occupied by the Pacific Ocean.

However, the present scientists do not accept either of the explanations. It is now generally believed that the formation of moon, as a satellite of the earth, is an outcome of ‘giant impact’ or what is described as “the big splat”. A body of the size of one to three times that of Mars collided into the earth sometime shortly after the earth was formed. It blasted a large part of the earth into the space. This portion of blasted material then continued to orbit the earth and eventually formed into the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.