Predicting Weather By The Moon - Xavier University Libraries

Formation of the Moon
OTHELLO: ‘It’s the very error of the Moon; She
comes more near the Earth than she was wont’
- Shakespeare, Othello
Formation of the
Moon
There are three theories about how the Moon came to
be in place: that the Moon came from the Earth, that the
Moon was captured by the Earth and that the Earth and Moon
were formed together. Was the Moon once part of a larger
planet earth, getting ripped away, possibly forming the Pacific
Ocean, following a massive interplanetary explosion?
Or was she at one time in an orbit around the Sun, somewhere
between Mars and Earth and some 2,500 million
years ago came just that bit too close; to be embraced in a
permanent hug around the Earth; an event that caused a sudden
mighty disturbance in Earth’s orbit around the Sun in
which from that moment on, Moon and Earth commenced
a mutual orbit around a common centre of gravity, lying
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