The Moon's Impossible Density, Ancient Material, and Resonant Interior

Three anomalies about the Moon sit uneasily alongside the standard impact origin hypothesis - the idea that a Mars-sized body struck the early Earth and ejected the material that became the Moon.

The first is density. The Moon is significantly less dense than Earth, which is difficult to reconcile with the idea that it formed from terrestrial material. The second is age - lunar samples contain material that predates the Earth itself, which the impact hypothesis cannot cleanly account for. The third is the most striking. When the Apollo 12 lunar lander was deliberately crashed onto the surface, the Moon rang like a bell. Seismometers left by Apollo missions recorded a vibrational train lasting far longer than any equivalent impact on Earth would produce - ten times or more. The same phenomenon occurred during meteorite strikes. Rocky bodies of normal composition do not behave this way. The Moon's anomalous resonance has never been fully explained.

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