Thomas Lee Elifritz

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/10/16/science.1226073.abstract

Forming a Moon with an Earth-Like Composition via a Giant Impact, Robin M. Canup, Science, Published Online 17 October 2012

In the giant impact theory, the Moon forms from debris ejected into an Earth-orbiting disk by the collision of a large planet with the early Earth. Prior impact simulations predict that much of the disk material originates from the impacting planet. However, the Earth and Moon have essentially identical oxygen isotope compositions. This has been a challenge for the impact theory, because the impactor’s composition would have likely differed from that of the Earth. Here, we simulate impacts involving larger impactors than previously considered. We show that these can produce a disk with the same composition as the planet’s mantle, consistent with Earth-Moon compositional similarities. Such impacts require subsequent removal of angular momentum from the Earth-Moon system through a resonance with the Sun, as recently proposed.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2012/10/16/science.1225542.abstract

Making the Moon from a Fast-Spinning Earth: A Giant Impact Followed by Resonant Despinning, Matija Ćuk and Sarah T. Stewart, Science, Published Online 17 October 2012

A common origin for the Moon and Earth is required by their identical isotopic composition. However, simulations of the current giant impact hypothesis for Moon formation find that most lunar material originated from the impactor, which should have had a different isotopic signature. Previous Moon-formation studies assumed that the angular momentum after the impact was similar to the present day; however, Earth-mass planets are expected to have higher spin rates at the end of accretion. Here, we show that typical last giant impacts onto a fast-spinning proto-Earth can produce a Moon-forming disk derived primarily from Earth’s mantle. Furthermore, we find that a faster-spinning early Earth-Moon system can lose angular momentum and reach the present state through an orbital resonance between the Sun and Moon.

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