The Moon Formed 50 Million Years After the Formation of the Solar System

The Earth's natural satellite is more ancient than previously thought.

Scientists at the University of Cologne, Germany, have found that the moon formed 50 million years after the birth of the solar system, reported Phys.org and BTA.

It turns out that the Earth's natural satellite is more ancient than previously thought. Previous studies have shown that the formation of the moon occurred no later than 150 million years later on Earth. The results of the analysis of samples of lunar rocks collected during the Apollo mission revealed that the moon formed 4.51 billion years ago. 

Now scientists have estimated the amount of isotopes of the hafnium and wolfram elements.

The radioactive decay of hafnium-182 and tungsten-182 continued only during the first 70 million years of the existence of the solar system. This led to the conclusion that the molten rocks containing the isotopes began to cool earlier. Therefore, the collision of Earth with a large cosmic object, which led to the appearance of the moon, occurred in the first few tens of millions of years after the formation of the solar system.