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:

Solar System

An incredible likeness of being

Nature volume 520, pages 169–170 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Earth and the Moon share many puzzling chemical similarities. New analyses show that the last planet-sized body to hit Earth could have been similar enough to Earth to yield a Moon with an Earth-like composition. See Letter p.212

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

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

Figure 1: Oxygen isotopic similarities and differences.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Canup, R. M. Icarus 168, 433–456 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pahlevan, K. & Stevenson, D. J. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 262, 438–449 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mastrobuono-Battisti, A., Perets, H. B. & Raymond, S. N. Nature 520, 212–215 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Melosh, H. J. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 372, 20130175 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Franchi, I. A., Wright, I. P., Sexton, A. S. & Pillinger, C. T. Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 34, 657–661 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Herwartz, D., Pack, A., Friedrichs, B. & Bischoff, A. Science 344, 1146–1150 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Dauphas, N., Burkhardt, C., Warren, P. H. & Teng, F.-Z. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 372, 20130244 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ćuk, M. & Stewart, S. T. Science 338, 1047–1052 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Canup, R. M. Science 338, 1052–1055 (2012).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Raymond, S. N., O'Brien, D. P., Morbidelli, A., Kaib, N. A. Icarus 203, 644–662 (2009).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Chambers, J. Icarus 152, 205–224 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Wiechert, U. H. et al. Science 294, 345–348 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Georg, R. B., Halliday, A. N., Schauble, E. A. & Reynolds, B. C. Nature 447, 1102–1106 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Dauphas, N., Poitrasson, F. & Burkhardt, C. 46th Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. Abstr. 1417 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Touboul, M., Putchtel, I. S. & Walker, R. J. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14355 (2015).

  16. Kruijer, T. S., Kleine, T., Fischer-Gödde, M. & Sprung, P. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature14360 (2015).

  17. Wiechert, U. H., Halliday, A. N., Palme, H. & Rumble, D. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 221, 373–382 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robin M. Canup is at the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA.,

    Robin M. Canup

Authors
  1. Robin M. Canup
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robin M. Canup.

Related audio

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Canup, R. An incredible likeness of being. Nature 520, 169–170 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/520169a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/520169a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced 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