Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the First Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 A brief history
- Chapter 2 The universe
- Chapter 3 Stars
- Chapter 4 The solar nebula
- Chapter 5 Composition and chemical evolution of the solar nebula
- Chapter 6 The evidence from meteorites
- Chapter 7 Building planets
- Chapter 8 The giant planets
- Chapter 9 Satellites and rings
- Chapter 10 The refugees
- Chapter 11 The survivors: Mercury and Mars
- Chapter 12 The twins: Venus and the Earth
- Chapter 13 The Moon
- Chapter 14 The role of impacts
- Chapter 15 Epilogue: on the difficulty of making Earth-like planets
- Name index
- Subject index
Chapter 13 - The Moon
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the First Edition
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Chapter 1 A brief history
- Chapter 2 The universe
- Chapter 3 Stars
- Chapter 4 The solar nebula
- Chapter 5 Composition and chemical evolution of the solar nebula
- Chapter 6 The evidence from meteorites
- Chapter 7 Building planets
- Chapter 8 The giant planets
- Chapter 9 Satellites and rings
- Chapter 10 The refugees
- Chapter 11 The survivors: Mercury and Mars
- Chapter 12 The twins: Venus and the Earth
- Chapter 13 The Moon
- Chapter 14 The role of impacts
- Chapter 15 Epilogue: on the difficulty of making Earth-like planets
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
“After the Sun, the Moon of all the heavenly bodies is that which interests us the most; its phases afford us a measure of time so remarkable that it has been primitively in use among all people” [1]. The Moon and Mercury represent special cases even by the standards of the solar system. Mercury is unique due to its high density, with an iron/silicate ratio about twice that of the other inner planets (Section 11.1). In contrast, the Moon is of interest because of its low density and low metal/silicate ratio [2]. Explanations for the peculiar nature of both bodies have a long history and much effort has been expended in attempts to fit one or both into overall schemes of planetary formation, but without conspicuous success.
The Moon has played a central role in the recent development of theories of the origin and evolution of the solar system. This is not without irony, as it has proven one of the most difficult objects to explain. It is in plain sight, accessible even to naked-eye observation, as Harold Urey (1893–1981), who persuaded NASA to go to the Moon, was accustomed to remind us. The Moon was often thought to be a kind of Rosetta Stone, so that the general belief in pre-Apollo times was that we could discover much about the origin of the solar system by going to the Moon [3].
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Solar System EvolutionA New Perspective, pp. 369 - 400Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001