A smashing pair

Article Abstract:

An attempt is made to understand how the planet Pluto's satellite Charon came into existence, which is believed to be the outcome of an impact between two planet-sized bodies. Refined simulations show that there might be two distinct modes for the birth of such twins where the Pluto-Charon system, a tightly bound pair whose angular momentum, if concentrated in a single object with the combined mass of the two, would produce an object rotating so fast that it approaches rotational break-up.

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Origin of the Moon in a giant impact near the end of the Earth's formation

Article Abstract:

Research is presented describing the development of a computer-generated model showing how the Moon was born after a collision between a meteorite and a half-formed Earth.s

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A new model Moon

Article Abstract:

Research is presented describing the development of a computer-generated model showing how the Moon was born after a collision between a meteorite and a half-formed Earth.

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