Mercury - a left-over of the crash that created the Moon?, Highly speculative but maybe worth it |
Mercury - a left-over of the crash that created the Moon?, Highly speculative but maybe worth it |
Dec 7 2007, 12:19 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 147 Joined: 14-April 06 From: Berlin Member No.: 744 |
Having agreed upon the Moon being created by a grazing collision with a Mars-sized object, could we give any thoughts to what happened to the impactor afterwards? Since it was a grazing collision, it might have been melted but not destroyed, only with some material ripped from it (and from the Earth) which ended up in Earth orbit to coalsce into what we know as the Moon today. But what happened to the impactor after it passed the Earth? Could it still hang around somewhere in the Solar System? I suppose it would bear some significant markings after the event, for instance have its outer layers stripped. But wait a second... Mercury DOES have its outer layers stripped off, with an unusually high mean density resulting from a core which could be considered oversized for such a small planetary body. In the wake of MESSENGER beginning to reveal Mercury's secrets in January, could anyone bother to give any thoughts to this idea? I am not sure whether it had been put forth previously or not, I am just curious if it could make any sense to have the impactor impact the Earth in a grazing manner and then end up parked in an elliptical orbit close to the Sun, with its outer layers stripped and an "oversized" original core left inside...
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Dec 7 2007, 04:04 PM
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
The lunar formation theory is predicated on very specific orbits and masses for the bodies both prior-to and after the encounter. So there wouldn't be any missing material to create another planet. Now you could argue that there was a larger initial mass in the system, but then you have to take into account different orbits, velocities and angular momentum of the bodies which would affect a whole host of other things going all the way back to the stability of the system during the formation of the Earth and it's impactor twin in the first place.
Also keep in mind that this event was an unlikely planetary cue ball in the corner pocket. To account for Mercury from this event you'd need a secondary lucky shot to put it in a place where it wouldn't be swallowed by the Sun our fly off to the far corners of the solar system. If you've ever played with a speeded-up planetary system simulation program, its really quite difficult to place a body in a longterm stable orbit. It's an interesting thought, but I don't think it works here. -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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