Earth and Moon may have originated from collision with planet Theia

Na Reproductive, there is a phenomenon called “evanescent twin syndrome"(vanishing twin syndrome), which occurs when one of the fetuses disappears during pregnancy. The loss of one of the twins can leave residual DNA in the mother's body. A new survey by astronomers from the SETI Institute da University of California in Berkeley (USA), suggests that the planet Earth originated from the merger of 2 celestial bodies.

Apparently, our planet was the result of a collision that helped EARTH and Moon have the characteristics they currently have. The researchers suggest that about 4,5 billion years - during the formation of the milky way – our planet had a kind of “evanescent twin" called Thea, which collided and merged with the EARTH. The impact between the two celestial bodies was also responsible for giving rise to the Moon.

The postulate was named Big Splash Theory. hypothesis holds that Thea graduated from planetary accretion inside the same orbit da EARTHbut at 150 million km, No. Lagrangian point L4 (located on Earth's orbit in symmetrical positions with respect to Earth). Thea remained in this position in harmony with the Earth for about 20 to 30 million of years. However, as the planet grew, its gravitational forces impelled Thea out of L4.

For some time the planet described a cyclical horseshoe orbit, leaving L4, but was soon pulled back by the Coriolis force. With each new cycle, Thea won more speed and reached a greater distance of L4. Finally, after having developed internal stratification, Thea acquired mass and dimension similar to mars, enough for escape from L4 and entered a chaotic orbit.

The collision with EARTH it was inevitable, since both planets occupied the same orbit. When Thea was shocked by the EARTH at a speed of 40 thousand km/h, the impact was sufficient to vaporize the planet. Substantial part of its ferrous core sunk to earth and integrated the Earth's core. The rest of the material was designed for space. THE accretion of the wreckage gave rise to the Moon.

The scientists studied oxygen isotopes extracted from moon rocks of the missions Apollo and compared with volcanic rocks from the mantle of EARTH. CEvery planet has a kind of “signature” of own oxygen. if the Moon emerged after the collision of Thea with EARTH, our natural satellite would be formed mainly by debris from Thea and should have marks on the oxygen isotopes different from those found in EARTH.

However, the researchers found that the Earth and Moon have the same types of oxygen isotopes. "We don't notice any difference between Earth's and Moon's oxygen isotopes; they are indistinguishable", said the researcher. Edward D Young. “Theia was uniformly incorporated on both Earth and the Moon. This explains why we don't see a difference in the Moon's oxygen samples compared to Earth.“, He completed.

The researcher also explained that there is evidence that Thea it was a growing planet, still evolving at the time of impact. The planet was similar in size to EARTH ou Mars. If confirmed, the research will help us better understand the origins and history of our planet.