THE NEWLY FORMED MOON MAY HAVE TIDALLY HEATED THE EARTH

[Judi Lynn]

DECEMBER 9, 2021, 9:00 AM ET

The Moon was so close it would've loomed huge in the sky.

By Phil Plait

Sometimes the rising Moon looks huge over the horizon, big enough that you could almost fall into it. That's an illusion, though. Your brain is tricking you into thinking it's bigger than it really is.

But, if you had seen the rising Moon, oh, say, 4.4 billion years ago, it would've been immense on the horizon. Shortly after it formed it was much, much closer to Earth, and would have appeared 15 times bigger in the sky than it does now.

This, it turns out, may also help solve a long-standing and pernicious astronomical problem: Why wasn't the Earth frozen solid when it was young?

When the Earth was very young, a few million years after it first formed, it was very hot. Certainly after a Mars-sized planet whacked us but good and formed the Moon, the Earth was heated substantially again. But after that it would've cooled.

More:
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/bad-astronomy-tidal-heating-from-the-young-moon-may-solve-an-astronomical-paradox

[exboyfil]

1. It is circumstances like this that makes me think the rare earth hypothesis is correct

It seems we need to string a whole series of improbable events together to have life as we understand it. So many things have to be just right.

300 billion stars seems like a big number, but probability of intelligent life can be driven down by just one low probability event.