Chinese Scientist Gives New Hypothesis on Origin of the Moon

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 29, 2001

Chinese Scientist Gives New Hypothesis on Origin of the Moon

A planet collision may have helped form the Moon. This is the new hypothesis on the origin of the Moon by Huang Jinzhong, a geographer from the Seismology Bureau of Quanzhou City. Huang said two planets, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, collided and split some 4.6 billion years ago, and one of the fragments formed rudiments of the Moon. Huang supported his hypothesis with evidence of the Moon's internal structure and chemical components, the age of rocks on the Moon, and other geological data.

A planet collision may have helped form the Moon. This is the new hypothesis on the origin of the Moon by Huang Jinzhong, a geographer from the Seismology Bureau of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, according to latest issue of Beijing Review.

Rudiments of the Moon Comes From Fragments

In a paper submitted to the annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), Huang said two planets, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, collided and split some 4.6 billion years ago, and one of the fragments formed rudiments of the Moon.

This rudiment Moon was a melting celestial body, circling the Sun, according to Huang. Influenced by Jupiter's gravitation, its orbit began to change. The rudiment Moon collided with the South Pole region of the Earth some 4.46 billion years ago, and rebounded from it. The rebound force and Earth's centrifugal force then caused the Moon to circle around the Earth, he said.

Evidence from Structure & Chemical Components

Huang supported his hypothesis with evidence of the Moon's internal structure and chemical components, the age of rocks on the Moon, and other geological data. Huang's hypothesis on the origin of the Moon comes from his theory of the genesis of the Solar System. Japanese geologist C. Hayaci said Huang's theory is an innovative school of thought in the field.

There have been four hypotheses on the origin of the Moon so far: First, the Moon was a fragment separated from the Earth; second, the Moon was an independent planet captured by the Earth's gravitational pull; third, both the Moon and the Earth were formed by the same cluster of celestial material; and fourth, the Moon was formed by substances sent out after a huge planetestimal collision with the Earth. Yet all of these theories are considered flawed in certain aspects.

Huang's Hypothesis Needs Further Demonstration

Huang said his planet collision theory is inclusive of all the rational parts of other hypothesis. "But it's not just a simple mix of all things," he added.

Ma Jin, a geologist from the Geological Research Institute of China Seismological Bureau, said, "Huang's hypothesis is very bold. Yet it still needs to be proved through all kinds of scientific means. Otherwise it will simply remain a hypothesis."

The Giant Impact (Most Popular Hypothesis)

At the time Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, other smaller planetary bodies were also growing. One of these hit earth late in Earth's growth process, blowing out rocky debris. A fraction of that debris went into orbit around the Earth and aggregated into the moon.

The giant impact hypothesis exploded in popularity at a conference held in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, in 1984, though the fuse had been lit about ten years earlier. Two key papers had been published in 1975, one by William K. Hartmann and Donald Davis (Planetary Sciences Institute in Tucson, Arizona) and the other by Alfred G. W. Cameron and William Ward (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts).

Though they took different approaches to the problem, both suggested that the Moon formed when a huge impactor smashed into the Earth near the end of its construction.

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