![]() ![]() The Moon is a relatively cold rocky body, with a limited amount of water and little tectonic processing. ![]() How planets got their satellites and why they have the properties they do are questions which could shed light on many aspects of the evolution of the early Solar System. Some moons are icy, some are rocky, some are still geologically active and some relatively inactive. For example, Mars has two moons, Jupiter has 79 and Neptune has 14. Most planets in our solar system have satellites. Earth’s Moon, together with the Sun, is a dominant object in our sky and offers many observable features which keep scientists busy trying to explain how our planet and the Solar System formed. New data suggest this is because radioactive elements were distributed uniquely after the catastrophic Moon-forming collision. The apparent early dynamism of the Moon challenges this idea. The Moon, being smaller, likely cooled down faster and geologically ‘froze’. Earth ended up being the larger daughter of this collision and retained enough heat to become tectonically active. Scientists believe the two formed when a Mars-sized body collided with the proto-Earth. The Earth-Moon system’s history remains mysterious. The composition of the Moon’s near side is oddly different from its far side, and scientists think they finally understand why. Earth’s Moon has a ‘near side’ that is perpetually Earth-facing and a ‘far side’, which always faces away from Earth. ![]()
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