Let me take you back to the earliest days of our planet, four and a half billion years ago. At this time, the Earth had no moon. It was orbiting the Sun alone, and it was being assaulted by rocks and comets.
Today, there are no scars left from this cosmic pinball but to get a sense of the damage that was done, I’ve come to the Arizona desert to a great hole in the ground.
This is a beautiful crater, a near-perfect circle a mile in diameter. It was formed when a meteor crashed into the Earth a mere fifty thousand years ago. That’s nothing on the timescale that we’re talking about. But, it’s amazing how much damage that one passing rock can cause. The early Earth was bombarded with rocks; it must have been mayhem. And then along came something much, much bigger.
Another planet the size of Mars drifted into the path of Earth. It was on a collision course.
It hit the Earth with a glancing blow. Imagine the power released by such a collision!
The impact sent a mass of liquid rock into orbit. This debris coalesced into a ball and the moon was formed, just fourteen thousand miles away from the early Earth. This was the closest point it could have been. Any closer, and gravity would have pulled the debris crashing back to Earth and there’d be no moon.
Today the moon is just a rock, reflecting the sun’s light, but back then it was a molten sphere burning brightly. It must have looked amazing: an enormous orange disc in the sky.
Imagine the scene: the first moonrise over the early Earth. Our world was no longer alone. It had a huge, powerful neighbour, and ever since this has been a very different type of planet.
© BBC
Comments
Yupe! I like looking at the moon! The super moon was so bright and beautiful that I couldn’t help walking while looking it up all the time! Can anyone make a romantic poetry about the supermoon?
O! Sorry. I'm like looking at the moon! It's so beautiful. I know some songs about the moon. Many admire the moon. It's so mystical. I like it)
I think, that the moon is very beautiful. I love looking at the moon. (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡ Unfortunately I don't remember any songs about the moon. ┐(︶▽︶)┌ I like this video. It's very interesting. <(￣︶￣)>
It is great
It's very interesting. I like looking at the moon. This video is very cool. I like it. There are a lot of songs about the moon. The moon is very beautiful. (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡
Thanks a lot!
I love seeing the moon, is so beautiful the night.
It's great! I like this video. I like seeing the moon. It's so beautifull. And I learned a lot of new)))
O! Sorry. I'm like looking at the moon! It's so beautiful. I know some songs about the moon. Many admire the moon. It's so mystical. I like it)
I thing that all of us need in Moon,because if it were not for her there would be no us, since it supplies us heat and reflected sunlight.
Yes, I like.
Some fairy tales showed that there are rabbits and a fairy on the Moon. When I was in elementary school, I learned a poem about the Moon " Where are you from, the Moon ?'.
I really like this kind of videos.
So am i :)
I don't like seeing the moon
I love looking at the moon, especially when it is a full-moon.
I like looking at he moon... But I don't know any stories or songs about moon... I like this video (y)
it's a fascinating videos with precious information and valuable things when i was young i loved to look at the sky and look at the stars to say "who created you?"and wondering how they were formed and the systematic tidiness they go on and when i grew up i'm now 16 i read many many books about physics and started to understand some illustrating points of astronomy and i hoped to traved through space to detect these unknown places but i was sad when i've read that we are in a vast and infinite universe that no one could estimate and count even it' dimensions isn't it the creativity of agreat creator?!!!!!!!!!!!
I like this video.......)
I like to look star and moon..this is very beautiful video...Thank you.. :)
OMG just amzing )()()))(())()())())(()((())(((()))((.......
i like to look to the moon
the moon is very beautiful :)
Yes, I like looking at the moon. It is nice and amazing feeling. I do not know any stories or songs about the moon. This video is fantastic.
I love looking at the moon, especially when it's full. The moon is beautiful from our point of view, shiny and magical. I kind of relax when I look at it.
I don't think I know any songs or stories about the moon.
İ like looking at the moon.İt is very interesting.
l like video
Beautiful.I like this kind of videos.
It's like magical world. A bit scaryyyy..
Woow, i like it.. brilliant :)
Yes, I like looking at the moon, it's so agreeable and romantic. I have a nice look at moon from my window, so I look at it every evening, before sleep. I like to do it aloe, but with my friends, too. I've heard a lot of stories about it, but I can't remember one at the moment. I remember I played a moon at a school performance once, and it was so funny and humorously.
BBC u r the best !
I love this video ! We really need the moon because if the
moon will not exist, i don`t know if i can sleep then.
I like this video
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