Origin of Moon

In 1838, Sir George Darwin suggested that initially, the earth and the moon formed a single rapidly rotating body. The whole mass became a dumb-bell-shaped body and eventually it broke. It was also suggested that the material forming the moon was separated from what we have at present the depression occupied by the Pacific Ocean.

However, the present scientists do not accept either of the explanations. It is now generally believed that the formation of moon, as a satellite of the earth, is an outcome of ‘giant impact’ or what is described as “the big splat”. A body of the size of one to three times that of mars collided into the earth sometime shortly after the earth was formed. It blasted a large part of the earth into space. This portion of blasted material then continued to orbit the earth and eventually formed into the present moon about 4.44 billion years ago.

Other Objects in the sky: In addition to the stars, planets and satellite, there are three other objects which we can occasionally see in the sky during night. These are asteroids, comets and meteors. We will discuss all of them one by one.