How was the Moon formed?

Hey kids! Welcome back to KidsCast! In this special article, well for us every article is special, but anyway, we are going to know about our Moon's origin. Have you ever wondered where the Moon which is revolving around the Earth, came from? Well, it is an interesting story, and let's know about it!

About the Early Earth: 

For understanding how the moon was formed, first let us study a bit about the Early Earth, or the Earth which was just born, billions of years ago! 

Earth, just like any other rocky planet, was born when the solar system was arranged in a proper format, and when gravity pulled the swirling gas and dust (which was orbiting the sun) in to become a rocky planet.  First, the rocky core was formed, when meteors, rocks, and many elements collided with the young and molten earth. Then, more and more layers of rocks, and elements formed by millions of collisions. This young earth was extremely hot. But this was not the final earth we have today, in fact, the early earth was like the ancestor of the earth we have today. Ask why? Well, now the story begins, of both the Moon and the Earth we have today! 

The Story of the Big Collision: 

Now, the real story, of how the moon was formed begins. As now we know, the early earth was hot and burning, while layers were being formed on it. The early earth was developing, but not yet habitable. 

However, much time later, there was a twist in the story. A small planet-like object, almost of the same size as Mars, was coming towards the early Earth. This planet-like object is called Theia. Theia rushed towards the earth, and crashed into it, releasing huge amounts of dust particles, rocks, and elements in space. Again, half or more than half of the earth broke into million pieces. This collision was huge and a large amount of heat was produced. These pieces spread out in space and then due to gravity started to orbit the remaining earth, which was the actual earth. The following is a GIF image to explain the movement of particles in this collision to you, after Theia collided with Earth: 

The particles which spread out in space and now started to revolve around the Earth were now known as debris (which means remains or waste particles). This debris now revolved around the remaining earth at a fast rate. But slowly and steadily, this debris coalesced, or joined together, to form the Moon we know today. Most of this debris made the moon, and the rest collided with the new Earth. 

The Moon we know Today!

Can you imagine that the moon we have today was formed with a collision of two planet-like bodies? The moon we know is so silent, beautiful, and bright, but the story behind it is surprising, isn't it? 

Now here is a surprise! We have a stylish quiz on this same topic waiting to be solved by you! Check out how much you understood this article by playing the quiz! 

Click Here to Play the Quiz!

So kids this was a special article for you to know the true story behind our Moon's birth! We hope you liked it! Happy Learning!