Billions of years ago, so the theory goes, something around the size of Mars smacked into Earth, spewing a whole bunch of dirt into space that eventually coalesced to form the Moon. This is called the ...

Hubble Space Telescope images have revealed a second massive collision between planetary bodies orbiting the nearby star ...

We already know a decent amount about how planets form, but moon formation is another process entirely, and one we're not as familiar with. Scientists think they understand how the most important moon ...

'Theia' is a long-vanished world, a planet-sized body thought to have smashed into the early Earth and that helped to form the moon. A new study has now analysed ancient lunar and terrestrial rocks to ...

The conventional explanation for the moon's formation is that an enormous rock smashed into the nascent Earth and created it as a result. A new theory challenges the particulars of how events may have ...

A bright new lunar crater detected in spacecraft images shows that asteroid impacts continue to reshape the Moon’s surface today. The Moon’s familiar surface tells a story of both ancient violence and ...

Scientists have long believed that the Moon was formed by a massive object crashing into the Earth billions of years ago and sending chunks hurtling into space that ultimately coalesced. But what was ...

The Moon's formation may not just have smashed Earth -- it may have stretched our planet into a potato for millions of years afterwards. Share on Facebook (opens in a new window) Share on X (opens in ...

This composite image of Pluto, right, and Charon, its largest moon, showcases photos captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015. Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI Unlike how scientists believe ...