The Moon's cratered surface preserves the record of impacts that occurred during the late stages of its accretion. New simulations show that a collision with a companion moon may have formed the lunar farside highlands. See Letter p.69
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Cameron, A. G. W. in Origin of the Moon (eds Hartmann, W. K., Phillips, R. J. & Taylor, G. J.) 609–620 (Lunar Planet. Inst., 1986).
Canup, R. M. & Esposito, L. W. Icarus 119, 427–446 (1996).
Jutzi, M. & Asphaug, E. Nature 476, 69–72 (2011).
Canup, R. M., Levison, H. F. & Stewart, G. R. Astron. J. 117, 603–620 (1999).
Warren, P. H. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 13, 201–240 (1985).
Benz, W. & Asphaug, E. Comput. Phys. Commun. 87, 253–265 (1995).
Neumann, G. A., Zuber, M. T., Smith, D. E. & Lemoine, F. G. J. Geophys. Res. doi:10.1029/96JE01246 (1996).
Lawrence, D. J. et al. Science 281, 1484–1489 (1998).
Zuber, M. T., Smith, D. E., Lemoine, F. G. & Neumann, G. A. Science 266, 1839–1843 (1994).
Garrick-Bethell, I., Nimmo, F. & Wieczorek, M. A. Science 330, 949–951 (2010).
Smith, D. E. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. doi:10.1029/2010GL043751 (2010).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zuber, M. Making mountains out of a moon. Nature 476, 36–37 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/476036a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/476036a