SP-345 Evolution of the Solar System

 

FIGURE 24.4.2.- If initially the orbits of the Earth and the planet Moon intersected, there would have been frequent encounters between the two bodies.

 

FIGURE 24.4.2.- If initially the orbits of the Earth and the planet Moon intersected, there would have been frequent encounters between the two bodies. capture at any given encounter is unlikely. The most probable result is a deflection leading to a new orbit. However, this new orbit would also intersect the Earth's orbit so that a large number of new encounters would occur. The most probable final result is capture. (From Alfvén and Arrhenius, 1972a.)

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