Long ago, There are Two Moon Around the Earth

Moon has long been a source of inspiration for poets, artists, or who are in love. And now, some astronomers speculate that, once there are two months around the earth.

Where did the moon on that one? Astronomers from the University of California, Santa Cruz, said she melted into one another in an event called "big splash." The result, in which there is now like having two different sides, one smooth and one full of bumps.

The theory reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 is presented by astronomers to discover there are two different sides of the moon. One side facing the earth looks smooth, while the side behind which is hilly. They and their computer models to show why it happened. It happened like a pie allegedly thrown into the face. Splatter.

This incident allegedly occurred around 4.4 billion years ago, long before there was life on Earth to witness the incident in the sky. These months was still young, formed 100 million years before a giant planet collided with Earth. Both of these months orbiting the Earth and run sequentially.

One month ahead of a large, measuring three times wider and 25 times heavier than the other one. Large moon's gravity is allegedly so great that a minor could not help it. Both are getting closer and then there was the moment of collision.

"They are destined to unite. There's no other way. It's like a big spark, pooling in low-speed," says Erik Asphaug, an astronomer one of the researchers quoted by the Associated Press.

Asphaug low speed meant it was the events happening in the speed of 5,000 miles per hour. But these moments are very slowly so that the stones could not shed space.

And because the moon is smaller has a width of more than 600 miles, these collisions take considerable time for viewers on Earth see it while eating peanuts. "People will be bored to see it takes 10 minutes for the bullet to reach the moon," said Asphaug equate a small moon with a bullet.

Stone and material from a small moon and then spread on the surface of the moon is great, even without producing a crater like that generated from the collision of a meteor into the earth's surface. "Physics is surprisingly similar to throwing a pie to the face," he said.

The day after that, everything returns to normal. Month stay one, but one side looks different.

Earth itself is indeed a strange solar system because it only has one moon. Although Venus and Mercury do not have one, Mars has two months, Saturnur and Jupiter has more than 60. Even Pluto is small, has four months.

The theory of two months is clearly discussed in NASA's crowded. H. Jay Melosh of Purdue University stated, "We found nothing wrong with that theory."

Scientist Alan Stern who used to work at NASA called that theory "just a very clever idea" but not easily verifiable.

The second month is not just a matter of astronomy. He was also instrumental in the field of literature and songs. Poet Todd Davis, associate professor of literature at Penn State University expresses the idea of ​​two months - in which one swallows the other - will capture the imagination of literature.

"I may be dreaming about it and tried to write it in a poem," he said.


See "New Moon Found Circling Pluto"

Posted in: Mystery,Unique