Timothy Birdnow

I was discussing new photos from the Lunar far side taken by a Chinese probe with some of my more qualified friends. I stated:

"It's much less interesting than this side of the Moon; no rilles, maria, or giant craters.

Why did the near side form so differently than the far side? Is the Moon two objects smashed together?"

Maurizio Morabito observed:

Stuff that barely misses Earth is more likely to hit the Earth facing side.

And Meteorologist James Covington adds:

Actually Luna is two moons slowly crunched together. Saw a documentary about it and I've run a few simulations myself.... every simulation I run of the moon forming impact, leads to two moons. In each of my simulations either one crashes back to Earth and the other is eventually lost, or they crash into each other.... but slowly since they're going the same direction, which results in one moon.

This also led to the far side of Luna having a thicker crust, so less basaltic lava poured through.... thus the lack of maria on that side. 🙂

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 09:55 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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