Nat Geo reports that the team study was led by Daniel Herwartz of Germany's Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. They reported the new Theia evidence on Thursday in the journal Science. The study reportedly scanned samples from missions 11, 12 and 16 of Apollo using powerful electron microscopes which weren't available to scientists before the Theia evidence and the rocks were first obtained. The data was seen from triple oxygen isotopes from both Earth rocks and Moon rocks. Scientists found a 12 parts per million difference in oxygen-17 between the two. This then supports the theory that a body with a different composition, now the Theia evidence, Theia being named after the mother of the Moon goddess Selene, was influential in the separation of the Earth from the Moon.
Lead researcher Daniel Herwartz from the University of Cologne said of the Theia evidence, "The differences are small and difficult to detect, but they are there. This means two things; firstly we can now be reasonably sure that the giant collision took place. Secondly, it gives us an idea of the geochemistry of Theia."
Theia evidence which proves the theory that the Mars-sized planet formed the Moon as it collided with the earth is still being considered. Scientists say that another alternative, which is that Theia and Earth were chemically identical, and that Earth was later hit by a comet or asteroid that carried a lot of water-proto-oceans-which rearranged Earth's oxygen chemistry, is also at the forefront of theories of how the Moon was created.
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