This rock from Theia would have been 2 to 3.5 percent denser than proto-Earth's mantle, based on what is known from the moon and previous models of Theia. Get the Space.com Newsletter.

An analysis of this meteorite dust showed that proto-Earth formed within about 5 million years, which is extremely fast, astronomically speaking.. Put another way, if the entire 4.6 billion years ...

PASADENA, Calif. — Continent-sized remnants of another world could be found deep inside the Earth, according to a new study coming out of California. Researchers believe the remnants could be ...

Like proto-Earth, the young moon was also covered in a magma ocean. The oldest rocks taken from the lunar surface can indicate when the moon’s crust formed.

Earth is the only rocky planet in the solar system with a significant moon. And the moon really is significant: It's roughly 1.2% the mass of Earth . That may not be big in an absolute sense, but ...

A new paper disputes the widely accepted hypothesis that the Moon is the product of material thrown up when an object known as Theia smashed into the proto-Earth. Once just one explanation among ...

The Moon has long been the Earth's close companion, ... During this chaotic time, an object the size of Mars smashed into the proto-Earth. "It would surely have been spectacular," says Nimmo.

The mineral is zircon, and scientists have found bits of it that formed 4.37 billion years ago, not too long after the proto-Earth's epic collision with a Mars-sized object that spawned our moon.

The mineral is zircon, and scientists have found bits of it that formed 4.37 billion years ago, not too long after the proto-Earth's epic collision with a Mars-sized object that spawned our moon.

This concept states that these blobs are actually remnants of Earth’s Moon-forming crash with the proto-planet Theia from 4.46 billion years ago.

And the moon really is significant: It's roughly 1.2% the mass of Earth.That may not be big in an absolute sense, but for the solar system, that's huge. No other moon is that large relative to its ...

The newborn Earth was struck by a Mars-size rock that helped create the moon, and the impact may have left behind continent-size remnants of the rock near Earth's core, a new study finds.