NEW RESEARCH EXPLAINS EARTH-MOON SYSTEM EVOLUTION

One of solar system’s strangest bodies is the earth’s closest neighbor- the moon. Its orbit lies strangely far from the earth, with an unusually large orbital tilt. Scientists have found this quite strange and have been unable to explain a scenario that has lead to the current earth-moon system.

A research paper published in the Nature journal’s Advance Online edition on October 31 2016 gives a better explanation to this. It explains the formation of moon and the evolution of the current earth-moon system based on the numerical models of explosion.

The research proposes that the explosion caused the earth to spin much faster and at a sharper tilt than today. However, complex interactions between the sun, the moon and the earth over several billion years have regularized many of those modifications, leading to the current earth-moon system.  

The model also says that impact caused the moon started to drift away from the earth, and the sun began exerting a powerful influence on the orbit of the moon.

These three factors viz., the earth’s steeper tilt, its faster spin, and the outwardly migrating moon are reasoned for the existing weird orbit of the moon.