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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Castellan" data-source="post: 35514" data-attributes="member: 639">I'd say the jury isn't really "out" on this, anymore. The samples returned from the Apollo missions helped Lunar Geologists come up with a very good theory for the formation of the Moon -- one that far outpaces the other theories.The Fission Theory suggests that Earth's high rate of rotation caused a "spawining" of the Moon. Unfortunately, while there are similarities between the Earth and the Moon (basaltic rock is very similar, for example) there are also some big differences, especially in terms of minerals unique to the Moon.The Capture Theory suggests that Earth trapped a wandering neighbor in orbit. If this were true, we'd find a lot more differences between the two bodies than similarities. This just isn't the case. The Moon is similar enough to the Earth that it doesn't seem very likely that the two bodies formed separately.Finally, we have the Binary Theory. The suggestion here is that Earth and the Moon formed together at the same time and out of the same (or similar) accreting matter. This theory fails the Apollo litmus test, too. Lunar Geologists analyzing rock samples from the Moon discovered that it was much hotter during its "birth" than the Earth was. And, though we've discovered some water on the Moon since the Apollo missions, the samples returned showed no water trapped within them. This is strong evidence for the Moon forming at a different time than the Earth, instead of from the same cloud of material.Anyway, not many people subscribe to the non-Impact-Theory theories, since it seems pretty reasonable that each of them fails in one area or another, while the Impact Theory doesn't.... yet <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Obviously, a better theory could come along someday, but for now, it's a safe bet to stick with the Impact Theory!</blockquote>

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