Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Jun 1986
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986icar...66..515b&link_type=abstract
Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 66, June 1986, p. 515-535. SNSF-supported research.
Statistics
Computation
119
Digital Simulation, Impact, Lunar Evolution, Equations Of State, Roche Limit
Scientific paper
Recently the single-impact hypothesis for forming the Moon has gained some favorable attention. The authors present a series of three-dimensional numerical simulations of an impact between the protoearth and an object about 0.1 of its mass. For computational convenience both objects were assumed to be composed of granite. The authors studied the effects on the outcome of the collision of varying the impact parameter, the initial internal energy, and the relative velocity. The results show that if the impact parameter is large enough so that the center of the impactor approximately grazes the limb of the protoearth, the impactor is not completely destroyed; part of it forms a clump in a large elliptical orbit about the Earth. This clump does not collide with the Earth. However, since the orbit of the clump comes close to the Earth (within the Roche limit) the clump will be destroyed and spread out to form a disk around the Earth. The scenario for making the Moon from a single-impact event is supported by these simulations.
Benz Willy
Cameron G. W. A.
Slattery Wayne L.
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