The moon was an inside job: What created it?

Although there are several hypotheses as to how Earth got its moon, Theia is the prime suspect. (PTI Photo)

Not long after Earth formed, it received an almighty sucker punch when an object roughly the size of Mars slammed right into it. The interloper, known as Theia, was destroyed, and parts of it and Earth were sprayed into space. The result was the moon.

It’s a violent, elegant theory for how Earth got its moon. But many questions about this moon-making cataclysm remain. One important unanswered query: Where in the solar system did Theia come from?

A study published Thursday in the journal Science may help answer this and other questions about this cosmic scuffle. By looking at chemical clues hidden in Earth’s rocks, meteorites and moon matter, scientists have found ghostly remnants