• Question: What is there a moon and where did it come from

    Asked by childishgambino to Heather on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Heather Eyre

      Heather Eyre answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      The moon is formed from bits of planet!

      In the early solar system the planets orbits weren’t all as stable as they are now, and when these planets collided the made loads of debris (space dust sounds way cooler, but it wasn’t all dust!).

      Luna (Our moon does have a name) was one of these left over bits and it got caught by Earth’s gravity and now orbits us. As the moon is a funny shape it spins slowly enough to match the speed it goes round the Earth so we only ever see one side….. that is, unless you go past it in a spaceship!

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