"During the early solar system's game of cosmic billiards, Earth was struck by a neighbor,” said Dauphas. “It was a lucky shot. Without the moon's steadying influence on our planet's tilt, the climate ...

Roughly four and a half billion years ago the planet Theia slammed into Earth, destroying Theia, melting large fractions of Earth’s mantle and ejecting a huge debris disk that later formed the moon.

Discover how scientists have used iron isotopes to determine the likely origin of the Mars-sized planet named Theia.

The formation of the Moon may have come harder on the heels of Earth's birth than we thought. According to a new analysis by researchers from the US, France, and Germany, Earth's constant companion ...

To our best of our understanding, the Moon formed from Earth following a colossal impact. A Mars-sized world we nicknamed Theia slammed and merged with the primordial Earth, throwing material into ...

Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet called Theia is thought to have smashed into newborn Earth. The messy collision kicked ...

Scientists traced the Moon's parent planet Theia to the inner Solar System, solving a 4.5-billion-year mystery.

Apollo samples provide evidence: Researchers analyzed Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo missions and, for the first time, ...

Research into the formation of the moon was conducted by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology located in Haifa. Results of ...

According to researchers, the composition of a planet or celestial body holds the entire story of its formation and origin.

Eons ago, in the frigid depths of our solar system, a dramatic collision occurred between two icy worlds. Instead of a catastrophic smash-up, the two bodies "kissed," merging temporarily like a ...

The Moon's formation may not just have smashed Earth -- it may have stretched our planet into a potato for millions of years afterwards. Share on Facebook (opens in a new window) Share on X (opens in ...