Related papers: Multiple Impact Origin for the Moon
Planet-planet scattering is the leading mechanism to explain the broad eccentricity distribution of observed giant exoplanets. Here we study the orbital stability of primordial giant planet moons in this scenario. We use N-body simulations…
The planet Mercury possesses an anomalously large iron core, and a correspondingly high bulk density. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in order to explain such a large iron content. A long-standing idea holds that Mercury once…
The impact cratering record of the Moon and the terrestrial planets provides important clues about the formation and evolution of the Solar System. Especially intriguing is the epoch 3.8-3.9 Gyr ago (Ga), known as the Late Heavy Bombardment…
The origin of Phobos and Deimos is still an open question. Currently, none of the three proposed scenarios for their origin (intact capture of two distinct outer solar system small bodies, co-accretion with Mars, and accretion within an…
Giant impacts, the collisions between planetary embryos, play a crucial role in sculpting the planets and their orbital architectures. Numerical simulations have advanced our understanding of these events, enabling estimations of mass and…
The Moon is known to have a small liquid core, and it is thought that in the distant past the core may have produced strong magnetic fields recorded in lunar samples. Here we implement a numerical model of lunar orbital and rotational…
This paper shows how the exposure of the Moon to the Earth's plasmasheet is subject to decadal variations due to lunar precession. The latter is a key property of the Moon's apparent orbit around the Earth - the nodes of that orbit precess…
Gas giant planets in the Solar system host large satellite systems with multiple regular and irregular moons. Regular moons revolve around their host planet in circular, low inclination short period orbits, and are thought to form in-situ…
Prevailing models for the formation of the Moon invoke a giant impact between a planetary embryo and the proto-Earth \citep{Canup_2004, Cuk_Stewart_2012}. Despite similarities in the isotopic and chemical abundances of refractory elements…
Uranus has a tilted rotation axis, which is supposed to be caused by a giant impact. In general, an impact event also changes the internal compositional distribution and drives mass ejection from the planet, which may provide the origin of…
Modern terrestrial planet formation models are highly successful at consistently generating planets with masses and orbits analogous to those of Earth and Venus. In stark contrast to classic theoretical predictions and inferred demographics…
Close-in giant planets represent the most significant evidence of planetary migration. If large exomoons form around migrating giant planets which are more stable (e.g. those in the Solar System), what happens to these moons after migration…
The early thermal evolution of Moon has been numerically simulated to understand the magnitude of the impact induced heating and the initially stored thermal energy of the accreting Moonlets. The main objective of the present study is to…
The origins of Uranus and Neptune are not fully understood. Their inclined rotation axes -- obliquities -- suggest that they experienced giant impacts during their formation histories. Simulations modeling their accretion from giant impacts…
There is a growing number of Earth's co-orbital bodies being discovered. At least five of them are known to be temporarily in quasi-satellite orbits. One of those, 469219 Kamo'oalewa, was identified as possibly having the same composition…
We consider the origin of compact, short-period, Jupiter-mass planets. We propose that their diverse structure is caused by giant impacts of embryos and super-Earths or mergers with other gas giants during the formation and evolution of…
The frequency and the characteristics of lunar impacting meteorites are reconsidered under the general assumption of belonging to the sporadic meteoroids. We develop the model for evaluating the luminous energy detected in the visual band…
A large disruption in the main asteroid belt can cause a large flux, an "asteroid shower", on the terrestrial planets. We quantitatively examine the hypothesis that such an event was the cause of the lunar late heavy bombardment (LHB). We…
The transfer of material between planetary bodies due to impact events is important for understanding planetary evolution, meteoroid impact fluxes, the formation of near-Earth objects (NEOs), and even the provenance of volatile and organic…
A giant impact is commonly thought to explain the dramatic contrast in elevation and crustal thickness between the two hemispheres of Mars known as the "Martian Dichotomy". Initially, this scenario referred to an impact in the northern…