Scientists Suggest Moon Formed Rapidly, Within Five Hours of Earth Impact

New high-powered computer simulations by scientists from the Southwest Research Institute and the University of Arizona suggest that the Moon may have formed in as little as five hours after a colossal collision with a Mars-sized body, Theia, approximately 4.5 billion years ago. This rapid formation challenges previous beliefs that the debris gradually clumped together over an extended period and could help explain mysteries about the Moon's composition and volatile material content. The findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.