Great discovery: finding the remains of another planet underground

4.5 billion years ago, a space object the size of Mars collided with the newly formed planet Earth. The collision of the planet Theia with the Earth was violent, while the debris that was launched into its orbit gradually joined together and became a single body, the Moon.

Scientists now believe that they have detected pieces of “Theia” in the bowels of the Earth.

In their publication in the journal Nature, scientists from the California Institute of Technology, led by geophysicist Qian Yuan, say that during the collision, Theia left some of its material on the surface of the Earth that was still forming and that the debris “sinked” into our planet.

Scientists have known for decades that toward the base of the Earth’s mantle, near the border with the core, there are continent-sized chunks of denser material.

The study found that today there are two huge, dense pieces in the Earth’s mantle that are essentially the remains of “Theia.”

“It is a very exciting and challenging result,” he said enthusiastically about the match. National Geographic planetary scientist Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado;

“This means we have material that can tell us more about Theia and help us better understand how the Moon formed.”

source: ski.gr

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