Origin and Evolution of the Moon - Volume 9 Issue S298 - Cuixiang Zhong

This process, previously thought to be bizarre and unusual, is now viewed as fundamental to planetary origin and evolution – an unexpected connection. Here we review these data and describe how the abundance of water in the lunar interior places important constraints on models for the high-temperature origin and evolution of the Moon. Lunar exploration revolutionized understanding of the collision of solid bodies. Van Orman,4 and Marion Le Voyer5 1Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC …

Origin and Evolution of Water in the Moon’s Interior Erik H. Hauri,1 Alberto E. Saal,2 Miki Nakajima,1 Mahesh Anand,3 Malcolm J. Rutherford,2 James A. The intervening decade has seen an exponential increase in the amount of data on the abundance of magmatic water, and its hydrogen isotope composition, in various rock types recovered from the Moon. The Moon most likely formed as the result of a collision between the proto-Earth and a differentiated body possibly the size of Mars (Cameron and Benz 1991; Hartmann and Davis 1975).The enormous amount of energy released by this giant impact caused widespread melting on the proto-Earth and the ejection of material into Earth’s orbit from which the Moon subsequently accreted. A descriptive formulation of the stages of lunar evolution as an augmentation of the traditional time-stratigraphic approach [21 enables broadened multidisciplinary discussions of issues related to the Moon and planets. The moon is distancing itself from Earth at a rate of about 1.5 inches (4 cm) every year. See how the moon was made in this Space.com infographic . The moon is Earth's nearest neighbor, but its origins date back to a violent birth billions of years ago. By going to the moon, we continue to obtain new insights into how the universe works and our own origins.