NASA: Moon may have formed within hours, not centuries

Scientists have revealed that a giant impact could have formed the Moon more rapidly within hours, opening up a whole new range of possible starting places for the Moon's evolution. The Moon is thought to have formed following a collision 4.5 billion years ago between the young Earth and a Mars-sized object called Theia. Most theories create the Moon through a gradual accumulation of debris from this impact.

Screen grab from the supercomputer simulations ( YouTube|NASA )