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Science 23 October 1970:
Vol. 170. no. 3956, pp. 438 - 439
DOI: 10.1126/science.170.3956.438
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Articles

Where Was the Moon Formed?

S. F. Singer 1 and L. W. Bandermann 2

1 Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240
2 Institute of Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822

Volatile substances have a low abundance in lunar surface rocks as compared to terrestrial rocks. If this depletion is explained in terms of a late accretion of volatile materials from a solar nebula with falling temperature, then the conclusion can be drawn that the moon accumulated not in earth orbit but as a separate planet, and that it was later captured by the earth.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)