"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 ...

Little is known about the long-destroyed moon-forming planet, Theia. But it may have been born in the inner solar system—just like Earth—a new study suggests ...

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

About 4.5 billion years ago, a colossal impact between the young Earth and a mysterious planetary body called Theia changed everything—reshaping Earth, forming the Moon, and scattering clues across ...

A new study challenges the idea that the moon was formed by a rogue planetary body slamming into the Earth and knocking off a disc. Instead, the study's authors think the moon may have emerged from an ...

Some 4.5 billion years ago, scientists believe the moon formed following a violent collision between Earth and another object about the size of Mars. That, theory known as the Giant Impact Hypothesis, ...

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

Scientists may never know exactly how the moon and Earth were formed some 4.5 billion years ago, but this week their understanding of the cataclysmic event made a significant leap forward. In a slew ...