# Theia has been found (maybe) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 2023, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711 "2023-11-06T20:11:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/1 "2023-11-06T20:11:24Z")
[Scientists are claiming](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/world/earth-moon-theia-collision-llvps-scn/index.html) that they have found chunks of the small planet Theia that collided with the Earth to form the Moon in our mantle. Apparently it did not completely melt when it collided with the Earth however there are other theories out there as to what those chunks might be. Can you imagine if we actually collected samples? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/2 "2023-11-06T20:37:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Can you imagine if we actually collected samples? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9or2yDvC3Ck/hqdefault.jpg "The Cyber Controller | The Tomb Of The Cybermen | Doctor Who") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9or2yDvC3Ck) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/3 "2023-11-06T20:44:23Z")
How would they get a sample? I thought the deepest manmade bored hole is in Russia and it’s only 40,230 feet deep (a little over 7 miles). (Kola Superdeep Borehole.) Theia is supposedly 1,800 miles down. > **[Why Did the Russians Seal Up the Deepest Hole in the World?](https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/kola-superdeep-borehole.htm)** > > The Kola Superdeep Borehole in Russia is the deepest hole in the world. It's deeper than the Mariana Trench and deeper than Mt. Everest is tall. Why did the Russians dig this deep, and why did they stop? [https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/world/earth-moon-theia-collision-llvps-scn/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/world/earth-moon-theia-collision-llvps-scn/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/4 "2023-11-06T21:09:32Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > [Scientists are claiming](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/world/earth-moon-theia-collision-llvps-scn/index.html) that they have found chunks of the small planet Theia that collided with the Earth to form the Moon in our mantle. If the Moon is in our mantle we have bigger concerns than mere Theia chunks. 😉 It’s hard to write a sentence like that with so many modifiers and subjects and third persons without getting at least one of them floating out there where it doesn’t quite fit. Silly pedantic nitpicking aside, that would be really cool if there really are Theia chunks in the mantle. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of remote sensing “exploring” going forward using seismic means. > [@TheCuse](#): > > How would they get a sample? Send Bruce Greenwood and Hillary Swank of course: > **[The Core (2003) ⭐ 5.5 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298814)** > > 2h 15m | PG-13 ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/5 "2023-11-06T21:16:12Z")
^^^I remember that movie 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/6 "2023-11-06T21:16:34Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m sure there’ll be a lot of remote sensing “exploring” going forward using seismic means. That’s how they found these two anomalies; seismic waves travel differently through them. The real question is why the two anomalies are there. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/7 "2023-11-07T16:08:24Z")
In an interesting kinda-related development, I ran across this research article today. > **[The Moon Is Even Older Than Scientists Thought - Eos](https://eos.org/articles/the-moon-is-even-older-than-scientists-thought)** > > How did the Moon form and how old is it? The most precise dating yet of Earth’s largest satellite found that it is much older than previously thought. The article’s baseline and conclusions are a bit confusing, but appears to be legit research, not dumbed-down clickbait. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/8 "2023-11-07T17:11:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If the Moon is in our mantle we have bigger concerns than mere Theia chunks. 😉 What the moon was doing in our mantle, I’ll never know! _waggles cigar_ ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/9 "2023-11-07T17:24:42Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The real question is why the two anomalies are there. Are we sure this isn’t @Hatchie’s doing? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/10 "2023-11-07T17:27:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The article’s baseline and conclusions are a bit confusing, but appears to be legit research, not dumbed-down clickbait. The “much older” part is kinda clickbaity. We are talking 4.46 billion years old versus 4.42 billion. Less than one percent difference. Every radiometric dating method has an error bar, this is just narrowing it slightly. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/11 "2023-11-07T17:30:14Z")
So if I’m reading the article correctly, we already knew about these “blobs” in the mantle for a long time now. And this is just one scientist going “hey, this could be Theia. But we really have no way of proving if it is.” ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/12 "2023-11-07T18:12:22Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > How would they get a sample? Maybe we can’t today but who knows by 2027 or 2028. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/13 "2023-11-07T18:48:44Z")
I notice you didn’t say “fondly.” ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/14 "2023-11-07T21:41:38Z")
I don’t normally (meaning _ **ever!** _) link to my posts but this is important, need Saint\_Cad (Taylor Swift) to see this _immediately_! > [@Let's make Earth the #1 Planet](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-make-earth-the-1-planet/919032/157): > > Well looka here! Did I not tell you this? And yet, it’s both better and worse than I thought. [[Imgur] ](https://imgur.com/Dgkw1xw) (Acknowledgement to Saint\_Cad for discovering this. You must have some excellent sensors to have detected this! I wonder, are you related tom the Swift family, maybe Taylor, Tom Jr.'s granddaughter? It makes sense, because if there’s one thing I know, money is no object.) You know, I often wondered what got me started down this path; intui… Everyone else, “at ease”. What I’m looking for is proof (I think we call it “cite” around here, which a snooty way of saying the same thing). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/15 "2023-11-07T22:39:02Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > So if I’m reading the article correctly, we already knew about these “blobs” in the mantle for a long time now. And this is just one scientist going “hey, this could be Theia. But we really have no way of proving if it is.” Kind of? It’s a little more than just “hey, maybe this.” The scientist (and a lot of others) did a lot of advanced modeling that shows that this hypothesis matches some of the observations. But you’re right, there isn’t a way it could be definitively proven. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/16 "2023-11-07T23:45:13Z")
But that will change, once we go back to the moon and start drilling. They already have some idea of what Theia is made of; primordial Earth goo, now commonly called igneous rock. Find that inside Luna and we can measure the specific gravity and we’ll have a pretty good idea of what’s knocking around undigested in our interior (and like salmonella no good can come from it.) PS as is well known, specific gravity is 1/6 on the moon which makes science a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/17 "2023-11-08T02:31:41Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > PS as is well known, specific gravity is 1/6 on the moon [![](https://cdn.ldsliving.com/dims4/default/f26f59a/2147483647/strip/false/crop/640x399+0+0/resize/640x399!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flds-living-brightspot-us-east-2.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fca%2Fbd%2Fe028075648b0d89c7004d0fdbe6c%2F14286.jpg) ](https://cdn.ldsliving.com/dims4/default/f26f59a/2147483647/strip/false/crop/640x399+0+0/resize/640x399!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flds-living-brightspot-us-east-2.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fca%2Fbd%2Fe028075648b0d89c7004d0fdbe6c%2F14286.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/18 "2023-11-27T17:50:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > > > [Scientists are claiming](https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/03/world/earth-moon-theia-collision-llvps-scn/index.html) that they have found chunks of the small planet Theia that collided with the Earth to form the Moon in our mantle. > > If the Moon is in our mantle we have bigger concerns than mere Theia chunks. 😉 > > It’s hard to write a sentence like that with so many modifiers and subjects and third persons without getting at least one of them floating out there where it doesn’t quite fit. …they have found chunks of the small planet Theia\*\*, which\*\* collided with the Earth to form the Moon\*\*,\*\* in our mantle. All right – why the heck aren’t my changes bolded? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/19 "2023-11-27T17:55:40Z")
spaces. the asterisks have to be right up against the first word in the string to be bolded, and right after the last word in the string, and there has to be a space before the asterisks, and after the asterisks. Theia **, which** collided with the Earth to form the Moon **,** in That means you can’t bold a comma and preserve normal spacing, because you can’t put asterisks inbetween a word and a comma; there needs to be an initial space. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711/20 "2023-11-27T18:19:24Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > That means you can’t bold a comma and preserve normal spacing, because you can’t put asterisks inbetween a word and a comma; there needs to be an initial space. Oh, really? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theia-has-been-found-maybe/992711.md?page=2)