Related papers: Constraints on the Source of Lunar Cataclysm Impac…
In the leading theory of lunar formation, known as the giant impact hypothesis, a collision between two planet-size objects resulted in a young Earth surrounded by a circumplanetary debris disk from which the Moon later accreted. The range…
The Earth's Moon is thought to have formed from a circumterrestrial disk generated by a giant impact between the proto-Earth and an impactor approximately 4.5 billion years ago. Since the impact was energetic, the disk would have been hot…
We compare the number of lunar craters larger than 15 km across and younger than 1.1 Ga to the estimates of the number of craters that could have been formed for 1.1 Ga if the number of near-Earth objects and their orbital elements during…
The hypothesis of lunar origin by a single giant impact can explain some aspects of the Earth-Moon system. However, it is difficult to reconcile giant impact models with the compositional similarity of the Earth and Moon without violating…
The Moon exhibits striking geological asymmetries in elevation, crustal thickness, and composition between its nearside and farside. Although several scenarios have been proposed to explain these asymmetries, their origin remains debated.…
Aims. Particles ejected from the lunar surface via hypervelocity impacts form a torus between the Earth and the Moon. According to our previous study (Yang et al., A\&A, 659, A120), among them about $2.3\times10^{-4}\,\mathrm{kg/s}$…
The Moon is traditionally thought to have coalesced from the debris ejected by a giant impact onto the early Earth. However, such models struggle to explain the similar isotopic compositions of Earth and lunar rocks at the same time as the…
We review previously published and newly obtained crater size-frequency distributions in the inner solar system. These data indicate that the Moon and the terrestrial planets have been bombarded by two populations of objects. Population 1,…
Impact craters, as "lunar fossils", are the most dominant lunar surface features and occupy most of the Moon's surface. Their formation and evolution record the history of the Solar System. Sixty years of triumphs in the lunar exploration…
According to the giant impact theory, the Moon formed through accreting the debris disk produced by a collision between Theia and the proto-Earth. The giant impact theory can explain most of the properties of the Earth-Moon system, however,…
Like many airless planetary surfaces, the surface of the Moon is scattered by populations of blocks and smaller boulders. These features decrease in abundance with increasing exposure time due to comminution by impact bombardment and…
In this paper we present a new method for dating the surface of the Moon, obtained by modeling the incoming flux of impactors and converting it into a size distribution of resulting craters. We compare the results from this model with the…
We investigate the possibility that the Moon's formation impact was triggered by an early dynamical instability of the giant planets. We consider the well-studied "jumping Jupiter" hypothesis for the solar system's instability, where…
We calculate the current spatial distribution of projectile delivery to the Earth and Moon using numerical orbital dynamics simulations of candidate impactors drawn from a debiased Near-Earth-Object (NEO) model. Surprisingly, we find that…
The current standard theory of the origin of the Moon is that the Earth was hit by a giant impactor the size of Mars causing ejection of iron poor impactor mantle debris that coalesced to form the Moon. But where did this Mars-sized…
On 2013 September 11 at 20h07m28.68 $\pm$ 0.01 s UTC, two telescopes operated in the framework of our lunar impact flashes monitoring project recorded an extraordinary flash produced by the impact on the Moon of a large meteoroid at…
The leading-trailing asymmetry in lunar crater distribution provides a critical record of inner solar system dynamics, yet the long-standing discrepancy between the observed higher asymmetry and lower theoretical predictions indicates a gap…
Simulations of the moon-forming impact suggest that most of the lunar material derives from the impactor rather than the Earth. Measurements of lunar samples, however, reveal an oxygen isotope composition that is indistinguishable from…
We determine the proportions of two mixed crater populations distinguishable by size distributions on the Moon. A "multiple power-law" model is built to formulate crater size distribution $N(D) \propto D^{-\alpha}$ whose slope $\alpha$…
The leading theory for the origin of the Moon is the giant impact hypothesis, in which the Moon was formed out of the debris left over from the collision of a Mars-sized body with the Earth. Soon after its formation, the orbit of the Moon…