The effect of pre-impact spin on the Moon-forming collision
@article{RuizBonilla2020TheEO, title={The effect of pre-impact spin on the Moon-forming collision}, author={S Ruiz-Bonilla and Vincent R. Eke and Jacob A. Kegerreis and R J Massey and L. F. A. Teodoro}, journal={Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, year={2020} }
We simulate the hypothesized collision between the proto-Earth and a Mars-sized impactor that created the Moon. Among the resulting debris disc in some impacts, we find a self-gravitating clump of material. It is roughly the mass of the Moon, contains $\sim 1{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ iron like the Moon, and has its internal composition resolved for the first time. The clump contains mainly impactor material near its core but becomes increasingly enriched in proto-Earth material near its surface. The…
Figures and Tables from this paper
2 Citations
Reduced Atmospheres of Post-impact Worlds: The Early Earth
- Environmental ScienceThe Planetary Science Journal
- 2022
Impacts may have had a significant effect on the atmospheric chemistry of the early Earth. Reduced phases in the impactor (e.g., metallic iron) can reduce the planet’s H2O inventory to produce…
Atmospheric Erosion by Giant Impacts onto Terrestrial Planets
- PhysicsThe Astrophysical Journal
- 2020
We examine the mechanisms by which the atmosphere can be eroded by giant impacts onto Earth-like planets with thin atmospheres, using 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations with sufficient…
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 51 REFERENCES
Origin of the Moon in a giant impact near the end of the Earth's formation
- Physics, GeologyNature
- 2001
This work reports a class of impacts that yield an iron-poor Moon, as well as the current masses and angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system, and suggests that the Moon formed near the very end of Earth's accumulation.
Consequences of Giant Impacts on Early Uranus for Rotation, Internal Structure, Debris, and Atmospheric Erosion
- Geology, PhysicsThe Astrophysical Journal
- 2018
We perform a suite of smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations to investigate in detail the results of a giant impact on the young Uranus. We study the internal structure, rotation rate, and…
Oxygen isotopic evidence for vigorous mixing during the Moon-forming giant impact
- Geology, PhysicsScience
- 2016
The results indicate that the late veneer impactors had an average Δ′17O within approximately 1 per mil of the terrestrial value, limiting possible sources for this late addition of mass to the Earth-Moon system.
Oxygen isotopic evidence for accretion of Earth’s water before a high-energy Moon-forming giant impact
- Geology, PhysicsScience Advances
- 2018
It is shown that the bulk of Earth’s water was delivered before the high-energy collision that led to the formation of the Moon and not later, as often proposed.
Atmospheric Erosion by Giant Impacts onto Terrestrial Planets
- PhysicsThe Astrophysical Journal
- 2020
We examine the mechanisms by which the atmosphere can be eroded by giant impacts onto Earth-like planets with thin atmospheres, using 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations with sufficient…
Making the Moon from a Fast-Spinning Earth: A Giant Impact Followed by Resonant Despinning
- Geology, PhysicsScience
- 2012
Computer simulations show that a giant impact on early Earth could lead to a Moon with a composition similar to Earth’s, and shows that a faster-spinning early Earth-Moon system can lose angular momentum and reach the present state through an orbital resonance between the Sun and Moon.
Identification of the giant impactor Theia in lunar rocks
- Geology, PhysicsScience
- 2014
Triple oxygen isotope data reveal a 12 ± 3 parts per million difference in Δ17O between Earth and the Moon, which supports the giant impact hypothesis of Moon formation, and show that enstatite chondrites and Earth have different Δ 17O values, and speculate on an enstatITE chondrite–like composition of Theia.