MULTIZ321
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Gold and Platinum Offer Clues About the Moon's Mysterious Tilt - by Karen Kaplan/ Science/ Science Now/ Los Angeles Times/ latimes.com
"A total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth about once every year and a half, on average. But imagine if it happened every single month. For this to be the case, the moon would have to orbit Earth in the same plane in which Earth travels around the sun – that way, the new moon would always come directly between us and the sun.
Instead, the moon circles Earth in a slightly different plane that’s tilted by 5 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system. It used to be even worse – about 4.5 billion years ago, when the moon was newly formed and hadn’t spent much time under the influence of Earth’s tides, it was askew by 10 degrees.
Experts believe the moon was born after a Mars-sized object slammed into the young Earth and knocked loose a bunch of debris that coalesced into the satellite we know today. If simple physics had prevailed, the resulting moon should have been tilted by no more than 1 degree.
What happened? It’s an enduring mystery. Scientists even have a name for it that sounds like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel: The lunar inclination problem..."
The moon is seen rising behind the Imperial Castle in Nuremberg, Germany, in October. A new study offers an explanation for the moon's mysterious tilt. (Daniel Karmann / European Pressphoto Agency)
Richard
"A total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth about once every year and a half, on average. But imagine if it happened every single month. For this to be the case, the moon would have to orbit Earth in the same plane in which Earth travels around the sun – that way, the new moon would always come directly between us and the sun.
Instead, the moon circles Earth in a slightly different plane that’s tilted by 5 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system. It used to be even worse – about 4.5 billion years ago, when the moon was newly formed and hadn’t spent much time under the influence of Earth’s tides, it was askew by 10 degrees.
Experts believe the moon was born after a Mars-sized object slammed into the young Earth and knocked loose a bunch of debris that coalesced into the satellite we know today. If simple physics had prevailed, the resulting moon should have been tilted by no more than 1 degree.
What happened? It’s an enduring mystery. Scientists even have a name for it that sounds like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel: The lunar inclination problem..."
The moon is seen rising behind the Imperial Castle in Nuremberg, Germany, in October. A new study offers an explanation for the moon's mysterious tilt. (Daniel Karmann / European Pressphoto Agency)
Richard