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Lunar accretion from an impact-generated disk

Nature volume 389, pages 353–357 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

Although the mechanism by which the Moon was formed is currently unknown, several lines of evidence point to its accretion from a circumterrestrial disk of debris generated by a giant impact on the Earth. Theoretical simulations show that a single large moon can be produced from such a disk in less than a year, and establish a direct relationship between the size of the accreted moon and the initial configuration of the debris disk.

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Figure 1: Schematic illustrations of the formation of the Moon by a giant impact: a, a Mars-sized body's impact on the proto-Earth; b, a hot, silicate vapour atmosphere/torus; c, a solid particle disk from which one or more moons accrete; d, outward migration of the formed moon(s) by tidal interaction with the Earth.
Figure 2: Snapshots of disk particles plotted in geocentric cylindrical coordinates (r, z).
Figure 3: The same snapshots as in Fig. 2 but for run 9 of a more extended disk ().
Figure 4: The same snapshots as in Fig. 2 but for run 13 of a very extended disk ().
Figure 5: Final moon mass, M, is plotted on the M/Mdisk − Jdisk/Mdisk plane.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. G. W. Cameron and Jack Lissauer for their constructive criticisms, and W. Ward, L. Esposito and H. Tanaka for discussions and comments. S.I. thanks LASP, University of Colorado for hospitality. R.M.C. was supported by NASA's origins of solar systems programme, and G.R.S. was supported by NASA's planetary geology and geophysics programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152, Japan

    Shigeru Ida

  2. LASP, University of Colorado, Campus Box 392, Boulder, 80309-0392, Colorado, USA

    Shigeru Ida, Robin M. Canup & Glen R. Stewart

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  1. Shigeru Ida
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  2. Robin M. Canup
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Correspondence to Shigeru Ida.

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Ida, S., Canup, R. & Stewart, G. Lunar accretion from an impact-generated disk. Nature 389, 353–357 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38669

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