The moon's orbit isn't a perfect circle. Instead, it's more stretched out, kind of like an oval, which means its distance from Earth varies by about 30,000 miles (48,000 km). The surface of the moon ...

Scientists continue to explore the deep story of how Earth and the moon formed. One idea has gained attention because it pushes us to imagine the planet in its earliest and wildest days.

For decades, scientists have held to the idea that the Moon was formed by a single, massive impact between Earth and a Mars-sized body known as Theia. But recent research suggests the truth might be ...

Roughly four and a half billion years ago the planet Theia slammed into Earth, destroying Theia, melting large fractions of Earth’s mantle and ejecting a huge debris disk that later formed the moon.

Over 4.6 billion years ago, Earth took shape from a spinning cloud of dust and gas surrounding the young sun. Tiny particles within this cloud collided and clumped together, driven by gravity and ...

A new study of Apollo lunar rocks suggests that the moon is older than anyone believed. The moon, researchers now say, likely formed about 50 million years after the solar system did, which is much ...

The moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago in a "giant impact" that left Earth with a two-hour day, according to new research. Scientists have long debated the circumstances which led to the formation ...

Ohio State University planetary scientists have found the remains of ancient lunar impacts that may have helped create the surface feature commonly called the "man in the moon." Their study suggests ...

That timeline is based on analyses of lunar rock samples from NASA’s Apollo missions. But the new study suggests that the moon formed earlier — around 4.51 billion years ago — and then experienced a ...

Scientists continue to explore the deep story of how Earth and the moon formed. One idea has gained attention because it pushes us to imagine the planet in its earliest and wildest days. Scientists ...