A massive object ― named theia after the mythological greek titan who was the mother of selene, goddess of the moon ― smashed into earth, flinging material into space that became the moon The early solar system would have been a chaotic, terrifying place. Lunar origin theories can be divided into three main categories Coaccretion suggests that the moon and earth were formed together from a primordial cloud of gas and dust This scenario, however, cannot explain the large angular momentum of the present system. Prior to the apollo mission research there were three theories about how the moon formed
The evidence returned from these missions gave us today's most widely accepted theory. There are several moon formation theories The debris and vapor that derived. Over time, the remains of the explosion (vapor, dust, and molten rock) orbiting the earth clumped together (accreted) to form our moon The moon's characteristics are best explained by the current leading scientific model of the moon's origin — the giant impact hypothesis. Today, the most widely—accepted theory on the moon's origin is the giant impact hypothesis, which holds that the moon was formed from material hurled into space by this spectacular collision
