Earth once had 2 moons

Just read an article an NATURE magazine where they say the earth had 2 moons back in the day. Apparently the smaller one crashed into the larger one to form one moon. That's why the dark side of the moon is cratered and mountanous and the side that faces us is relatively smooth.

Originally posted by uzless
Just read an article an NATURE magazine where they say the earth had 2 moons back in the day. Apparently the smaller one crashed into the larger one to form one moon. That's why the dark side of the moon is cratered and mountanous and the side that faces us is relatively smooth.

Yeah that's a pretty interesting theory.

http://www.space.com/12529-earth-2-moons-collision-moon-formation.html

Originally posted by uzless
Just read an article an NATURE magazine where they say the earth had 2 moons back in the day. Apparently the smaller one crashed into the larger one to form one moon. That's why the dark side of the moon is cratered and mountanous and the side that faces us is relatively smooth.

That theory certainly explains the facts but we won't know for sure till men scrounge around on the backside of Luna and take samples back like we did with Apollo. The isotope ratios and such will give useful evidence one way or the other.

Originally posted by sonhouse
That theory certainly explains the facts but we won't know for sure till men scrounge around on the backside of Luna and take samples back like we did with Apollo.

Kinky.

Originally posted by Palynka
Kinky.

Also expensive

Earth still has two moons. The other one is Governor Chris Christie.

Originally posted by sonhouse
That theory certainly explains the facts but we won't know for sure till men scrounge around on the backside of Luna and take samples back like we did with Apollo. The isotope ratios and such will give useful evidence one way or the other.

I doubt that it would be possible to identify whether or not the two objects were moons of earth.

Originally posted by uzless
Just read an article an NATURE magazine where they say the earth had 2 moons back in the day. Apparently the smaller one crashed into the larger one to form one moon. That's why the dark side of the moon is cratered and mountanous and the side that faces us is relatively smooth.

Surely that's explained just as well by the Moon being tidally locked to the Earth, leaving one side permanently exposed to the ravages of spatial bombardment and the other sheltered by the Earth?

Richard

Originally posted by Soothfast
Earth still has two moons. The other one is Governor Chris Christie.

He doesn't circle Earth - he circles the planet Cuomo.

Richard

Earth has two moms.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I doubt that it would be possible to identify whether or not the two objects were moons of earth.

There should be measurable similarities if the mars sized object that supposedly slammed into earth made the two moons with some part of the mix from earth and the rest from that other planet, it should show in the chemical/isotope data.

That is assuming we go back to the moon, front and back and generate samples.