1207.5224 (Andreas Reufer et al.)

A hit-and-run Giant Impact scenario    [PDF]

Andreas Reufer, Matthias M. M. Meier, Willy Benz, Rainer Wieler

The formation of the Moon from the debris of a slow and grazing giant impact of a Mars-sized impactor on the proto-Earth (Cameron & Ward 1976, Canup & Asphaug 2001) is widely accepted today. We present an alternative scenario with a hit-and-run collision (Asphaug 2010) with a fractionally increased impact velocity and a steeper impact angle.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.5224