80beats: Did a Nuclear Blast on Earth Create the Moon?

Find out the latest thinking about our universe.
Post Reply
User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

80beats: Did a Nuclear Blast on Earth Create the Moon?

Post by bystander » Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:39 pm

Did a Nuclear Blast on Earth Create the Moon?
Discover Space: 80beats: Scientist Smackdown (2010 Feb 04)
... centrifugal forces may have concentrated heavy, radioactive elements like uranium and thorium at the boundary between the Earth’s mantle and its core. Then ... a massive nuclear explosion occurred at the edge of Earth’s core, flinging red-hot, liquid rock into space. The orbiting detritus gradually congealed into what is now our planet’s lone satellite ...
Did a Nuclear Blast Give Birth to the Moon?
Discovery News - 2010 Jan 29
Looking at the silvery Moon hanging in the sky, it's hard to believe that quiet, comforting night light was formed in an episode of incredible violence several billion years ago. But that's exactly what scientists are proposing in a new theory about Luna's formation: they think a massive nuclear explosion occurred at the edge of Earth's core, flinging red-hot, liquid rock into space. The orbiting detritus gradually congealed into what is now our planet's lone satellite.

The Moon may have formed in a nuclear explosion
PhysOrg | Space Exploration | 2010 Jan 28
A new theory suggests the Moon was formed after a natural nuclear explosion in the Earth's mantle rather than after the impact of a massive object with the Earth, as previously thought.

Moon May Have Formed in Natural Nuclear Explosion
Technology Review - 2010 Jan 27
The moon formed after the explosion of a runaway nuclear georeactor in the Earth's mantle, according to a new theory of lunar formation.

An alternative hypothesis for the origin of the Moon

Post Reply