Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Planetary science

Making mountains out of a moon

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

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The Moon's enigmatic farside highlands.

LRO/GSFC/MIT/LOLA

References

  1. 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).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Canup, R. M. & Esposito, L. W. Icarus 119, 427–446 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Jutzi, M. & Asphaug, E. Nature 476, 69–72 (2011).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Canup, R. M., Levison, H. F. & Stewart, G. R. Astron. J. 117, 603–620 (1999).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Warren, P. H. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 13, 201–240 (1985).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Benz, W. & Asphaug, E. Comput. Phys. Commun. 87, 253–265 (1995).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Neumann, G. A., Zuber, M. T., Smith, D. E. & Lemoine, F. G. J. Geophys. Res. doi:10.1029/96JE01246 (1996).

  8. Lawrence, D. J. et al. Science 281, 1484–1489 (1998).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Zuber, M. T., Smith, D. E., Lemoine, F. G. & Neumann, G. A. Science 266, 1839–1843 (1994).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Garrick-Bethell, I., Nimmo, F. & Wieczorek, M. A. Science 330, 949–951 (2010).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Smith, D. E. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. doi:10.1029/2010GL043751 (2010).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria T. Zuber.

Rights and permissions

Reprints 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

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/476036a

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing