Dynamics of lunar origin and orbital evolution

Abstract

The considerable differences in bulk composition of the moon and the earth have led most investigators to favor the capture hypothesis of lunar origin. However, upon closer examination all forms of the hypothesis still seem much less plausible dynamically than formation by accretion, i.e., acquisition of the moon in many small pieces rather than as predominantly one body. Models of accretion do suggest that the proto-lunar matter had a significantly different history from the proto-earth matter. A better understanding of collisions is needed to infer the compositional consequences of this history. Recent work on the acceleration of the moon's orbit exacerbates the time scale problem of orbital evolution. However, it now is much clearer that the locus of tidal dissipation is in the oceans and hence that the solution to the time scale problem lies in differing oceanic configurations in the past.