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Theia (planet)

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An artist's depiction of the hypothetical impact of a planet like Theia and the Earth

Theia (/ˈθiːə/) is a hypothesized ancient planet in the early Solar System which, according to the giant-impact hypothesis, collided with the early Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, with some of the resulting ejected debris coalescing to form the Moon.[1][2] Collision simulations support the idea that the large low-shear-velocity provinces in the lower mantle may be remnants of Theia.[3][4] Theia is hypothesized to have been about the size of Mars, and may have formed in the outer Solar System and provided much of Earth's water, though this is debated.[5]

Name

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In Greek mythology, Theia was one of the Titans, the sister of Hyperion whom she later married, and the mother of Selene, the goddess of the Moon:[6] this story parallels the planet Theia's theorized role in creating the Moon.[7]

Orbit

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Theia is hypothesized to have orbited in the L4 or L5 configuration presented by the Earth–Sun system, where it would tend to remain. If this were the case it might have grown to a size comparable to Mars, with a diameter of about 6,102 kilometres (3,792 miles).[citation needed] Gravitational perturbations by Venus could have put it onto a collision course with the early Earth.[8]

Size

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Theia is often suggested to be around the size of Mars, with a mass about 10% that of current Earth, however, its size is not definitively settled, with some authors suggesting that Theia may have been considerably larger, perhaps 30% or even 40-45% the mass of current Earth making it nearly equal to the mass of proto-Earth.[9]

Collision

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Animation of collision between Earth (blue) and Theia (black), forming the Moon (red and gray). Bodies are not to scale.

According to the giant impact hypothesis, Theia orbited the Sun, nearly along the orbit of the proto-Earth, by staying close to one or the other of the Sun-Earth system's two more stable Lagrangian points (i.e., either L4 or L5).[8] Theia was eventually perturbed away from that relationship by the gravitational influence of Jupiter, Venus, or both, resulting in a collision between Theia and Earth.[citation needed]

Initially, the hypothesis supposed that Theia had struck Earth with a glancing blow[10] and ejected many pieces of both the proto-Earth and Theia, those pieces either forming one body that became the Moon or forming two moons that eventually merged to form the Moon.[11][12] Such accounts assumed that a head-on impact would have destroyed both planets, creating a short-lived second asteroid belt between the orbits of Venus and Mars.

In contrast, evidence published in January 2016 suggests that the impact was indeed a head-on collision and that Theia's remains are on Earth and the Moon.[13][14][15]

Simulations suggest that Theia would be responsible for around 70-90% of the total mass of the Moon under a classic giant impact scenario where Theia is considerably smaller than proto-Earth.[16]

Hypotheses

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Main article: Origin of the Moon

From the beginning of modern astronomy, there have been at least four hypotheses for the origin of the Moon:

  1. A single body split into Earth and Moon
  2. The Moon was captured by Earth's gravity (as most of the outer planets' smaller moons were captured)
  3. The Earth and Moon formed at the same time when the protoplanetary disk accreted
  4. The Theia-impact scenario described above

The lunar rock samples retrieved by Apollo astronauts were found to be very similar in composition to Earth's crust, and so were likely removed from Earth in some violent event.[13][17][18]

It is possible that the large low-shear-velocity provinces detected deep in Earth's mantle may be fragments of Theia.[19][20] In 2023, computer simulations reinforced that hypothesis.[21][4]

Composition

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The composition of Theia and how different it was from Earth is disputed and subject to debate.[22] It is considered unlikely that Theia had an exactly similar isotopic composition to proto-Earth. A key constraint has been that the many isotope ratios of retrieved rocks from the Moon are nearly identical to those from Earth, either implying that that the two bodies were extensively homogenized by the collision, or that the isotopic composition of Theia was very similar to Earth. However, a 2020 study showed that lunar rocks were more variable in oxygen isotope composition than previously thought, some differing more from Earth than others, with the more divergent values probably originating deeper in the lunar mantle suggested to be a more true reflection of Theia, and may suggest that Theia formed further away from the Sun than Earth.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wolpert, Stuart (January 12, 2017). "UCLA Study Shows the Moon is Older Than Previously Thought". SciTechDaily. UCLA. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  2. ^ K., Yidir (5 July 2007). "The Theia Hypothesis: New Evidence Emerges that Earth and Moon Were Once the Same". The Daily Galaxy. Archived from the original on 2017-06-19. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
  3. ^ Sample, Ian (November 1, 2023). "Blobs near Earth's core are remnants of collision with another planet, study says". The Guardian.
  4. ^ a b Chang, Kenneth (1 November 2023). "A 'Big Whack' Formed the Moon and Left Traces Deep in Earth, a Study Suggests - Two enormous blobs deep inside Earth could be remnants of the birth of the moon". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  5. ^ Meier, M.M.M.; Reufer, A.; Wieler, R. (November 2014). "On the origin and composition of Theia: Constraints from new models of the Giant Impact". Icarus. 242: 316–328. arXiv:1410.3819. Bibcode:2014Icar..242..316M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.08.003. ISSN 0019-1035.
  6. ^ Murdin, Paul (2016). Rock Legends: The Asteroids and Their Discoverers. Popular Astronomy. Cham: Springer International. p. 178. Bibcode:2016rlat.book.....M. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-31836-3. ISBN 978-3-319-31836-3.
  7. ^ "Selene". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  8. ^ a b "STEREO Hunts for Remains of an Ancient Planet near Earth". NASA. 2009-04-09. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2013-11-13.
  9. ^ Desch, Steven J.; Robinson, Katharine L. (December 2019). "A unified model for hydrogen in the Earth and Moon: No one expects the Theia contribution". Geochemistry. 79 (4): 125546. Bibcode:2019ChEG...79l5546D. doi:10.1016/j.chemer.2019.125546.
  10. ^ Reufer, Andreas; Meier, Matthias M.M.; Benz, Willy; Wieler, Rainer (September 2012). "A hit-and-run giant impact scenario". Icarus. 221 (1): 296–299. arXiv:1207.5224. Bibcode:2012Icar..221..296R. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.07.021. S2CID 118421530.
  11. ^ Jutzi, M.; Asphaug, E. (August 2011). "Forming the lunar farside highlands by accretion of a companion moon". Nature. 476 (7358): 69–72. Bibcode:2011Natur.476...69J. doi:10.1038/nature10289. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 21814278. S2CID 84558.
  12. ^ Emspak, Jesse (August 2014). "FACEOFF! The Moon's oddly different sides". Astronomy. pp. 44–49. ISSN 0091-6358.
  13. ^ a b Nace, Trevor (2016-01-30). "New Evidence For 4.5 Billion Year Old Impact Formed Our Moon". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  14. ^ Young, Edward D.; Kohl, Issaku E.; et al. (29 January 2016). "Oxygen isotopic evidence for vigorous mixing during the Moon-forming giant impact". Science. 351 (6272): 493–496. arXiv:1603.04536. Bibcode:2016Sci...351..493Y. doi:10.1126/science.aad0525. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 26823426. S2CID 6548599.
  15. ^ Wolpert, Stuart (January 28, 2016). "Moon was produced by a head-on collision between Earth and a forming planet". UCLA newsroom. UCLA.
  16. ^ a b Cano, Erick J.; Sharp, Zachary D.; Shearer, Charles K. (April 2020). "Distinct oxygen isotope compositions of the Earth and Moon". Nature Geoscience. 13 (4): 270–274. Bibcode:2020NatGe..13..270C. doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0550-0. ISSN 1752-0894.
  17. ^ Herwartz, Daniel; Pack, Andreas; Friedrichs, Bjarne; Bischoff, Addi (6 June 2014). "Identification of the giant impactor Theia in lunar rocks". Science. 344 (6188): 1146–1150. Bibcode:2014Sci...344.1146H. doi:10.1126/science.1251117. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 24904162. S2CID 30903580.
  18. ^ Meier, M.M.M.; Reufer, A.; Wieler, R. (November 2014). "On the origin and composition of Theia: Constraints from new models of the Giant Impact". Icarus. 242: 316–328. arXiv:1410.3819. Bibcode:2014Icar..242..316M. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.08.003. S2CID 119226112.
  19. ^ Yuan, Qian; Li, Mingming; Desch, Steven J.; Ko, Byeongkwan (2021). Giant impact origin for the large low shear velocity provinces (PDF). 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Bibcode:2021LPI....52.1980Y. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  20. ^ Gorvett, Zaria (12 May 2022). "Why are there continent-sized 'blobs' in the deep Earth?". BBC Future.
  21. ^ Yuan, Qian; Li, Mingming; et al. (2 November 2023). "Moon-forming impactor as a source of Earth's basal mantle anomalies". Nature. 623 (7985): 95–99. Bibcode:2023Natur.623...95Y. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06589-1. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 37914947. S2CID 264869152. Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  22. ^ Pinti, Daniele L. (2023). "Theia". In Gargaud, Muriel; Irvine, William M.; Amils, Ricardo; Claeys, Philippe; Cleaves, Henderson James; Gerin, Maryvonne; Rouan, Daniel; Spohn, Tilman; Tirard, Stéphane (eds.). Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 3021–3022. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-65093-6_1578. ISBN 978-3-662-65092-9.
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