New Supercomputer Simulation Sheds Light on Moon’s Origin
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters link it as a cool visualization whenever Theia and Moon formation come up.
What it is
A NASA and Durham University supercomputer simulation suggesting the Moon may have formed within hours of a giant impact between Earth and a Mars-sized body. It is one of the highest-resolution giant-impact simulations run.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2023 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends thaumaturgy · 2023-11 · on “Moon-forming impactor as a source of Earth's basal mantle anomalies”
If you haven't seen it yet, the simulation released last year of the hypothesized Earth-Theia moon formation is really cool: [this video]
Recommends gus_massa · 2023-11 · on “Remnants of Theia, an ancient plant that collided with the Earth”
It's not my area, but this video looks interesting and is produced by NASA " New Supercomputer Simulation Sheds Light on Moon’s Origin " (October 2022) [this video]
Cites ck2 · 2023-10 · on “Mars Lost Its Magnetic Field – and Then Its Oceans”
The simulation gives some insight, the debris was fed back by gravity in a swirl [this video] And always a great PBS Space Time on the subject [LINK]
Cites westurner · 2024-04 · on “Scientists solve long-standing mystery surrounding the moon's 'lopsided' geology”
How does this finding compare with those from this simulated video of the moon forming? "Collision May Have Formed the Moon in Mere Hours, Simulations Reveal" [LINK] [this video] And this, from the moon: "Scientists discover huge, heat-emitting blob on the far side of the moon" (2023) [LINK] "Remote detection of a lunar granitic batholith at Compton–Belkovich" [from a dormant volcano] (2023) [LINK]
Cites ck2 · 2024-08 · on “Matching dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean”
What I want to see is the Theia collision rendered in realistic 3D (and if there was enough gas around for sound to carry, that too!) [LINK] I guess this is close but not like the Hollywood blockbuster it should be [this video] [LINK]