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Before the formation of the Moon, I wonder if ...?
Earth was in its current goldilocks habitable zone around the Sun? I wonder if the Impact from whatever object hit the earth that resulted in the eventual formation of the Moon, changed the earth's original orbit in relations to the Sun? I wonder if there's any way of knowing this?
Had the Mars like object not struck the earth when it did, the Moon would not have formed and life on earth probably wouldn't have occurred, or if it did it would have evolved along a very different path than what we currently see.
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Interesting answers, thanks.
I would think however that we know enough about relevant parameters of the earth and moon such that a computer simulation might provide a possible answer. I mean, what kind of impact would be sufficient to knock a planet out of its orbit? The Mars size object that hit earth apparently only grazed it. I suspect that had it been a direct hit, things might have turned out to be very different.
1 Answer
- ?Lv 68 years agoFavorite Answer
The most likely change would have been in the length of day, by anywhere from a few milliseconds up to 23+ hours, depending on angle and velocity. A slight tilt in the Earth's axis by a few degrees at most would occur, though it would not have been enough to turn it 23.5 degrees. It would not have changed it's orbit, but again, depending on velocity and impact angle, nearly up to 45% of the Earth would have melted.
Most likely, this planetary impact had much more to do with creating the length of our days and our seasons than it did with Earth's location in the habitable zone.
