• The currently favored theory says that the Moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago, when the Earth collided with a Mars-sized mass, which has been given the name "Theia". According to this theory, the heat generated by the collision would have caused the whole planet to melt, before some of the debris cooled and spun off to create the Moon.
  • Now however, a group of scientists from Harvard University believe that they have identified a sign that only part of the Earth melted, and that an ancient part still exists within the Earth's mantle.
  • The idea that a very disruptive collision of the Earth with another planet-sized body, the biggest event in Earth's geological history, did not completely melt and homogenize the Earth challenges some of our notions on planet formation and the energetics of giant impacts. If the theory is proven correct, then we may be seeing echoes of the ancient Earth, from a time before the collision".

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