A group of scientists conducted a study that suggests remnants of the impact that led to the formation of the Moon are buried deep within the Earth's mantle.
A new simulation shows that the moon formed in a matter of hours, instead of months or years. The Moon formed only in a matter of hours following the collision between Earth and Theia, a space object the size of Mars, according to a new simulation put forth by a novel study.
The researchers found that rocky planets larger than six times the mass of Earth and icy planets larger than one Earth mass (1M) produce fully, rather than partially, vaporized disks that are not capable of forming fractionally large moons.