An artist's impression of the collision between the early Earth and Theia, which may have formed the moon MPS / Mark A. Garlick Around 4.5 billion years ago, a planet called Theia is thought to have ...

Moon’s precursor planet, Theia, disappeared billions ago, leaving scientists no direct chemical evidence to support the hypothesis. Now a team of astromers in France, Germany and the United States ...

Scientists have long believed that the Moon was formed by a massive object crashing into the Earth. But what was that thing ...

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.

Scientists widely agree that an ancient planet likely smashed into Earth as it was forming billions of years ago, spewing debris that coalesced into the moon that decorates our night sky today. The ...

Apollo samples provide evidence: Researchers analyzed Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo missions and, for the first time, used their iron isotope ratios to trace where Theia originally formed.

'Theia' is a long-vanished world, a planet-sized body thought to have smashed into the early Earth and that helped to form the moon. A new study has now analysed ancient lunar and terrestrial rocks to ...

"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 ...

We only have to look up at the Moon to see the remains of a cataclysmic collision between two early planets, billions of years ago. Now scientists suggest evidence may also be deep beneath our feet, ...