Mercury: The Scorched Planet | The Planets | Earth Science

The fate of Mercury could have been very different, had it not been for one gigantic clash.
Best of Earth Science: bit.ly/EarthLabOriginals
Best of BBC Earth: bit.ly/TheBestOfBBCEarthVideos
The Planets (2019)
This stunningly ambitious series brings to life the most memorable events in the history of the solar system, by using groundbreaking visual effects to tell the thrilling story of all eight planets. Transporting you to the surface of these dynamic worlds to witness the moments of high drama that shaped each one, The Planets reveals how the latest science allows us to unlock their past lives. It pieces together clues of magnificent lost waterfalls on Mars, the mass planetary migrations as they jostled for position early in their history, and even the distant fate of Saturn as one of its moons awakens to form a beautiful water world.
This is a channel from BBC Studios who help fund new BBC programmes. Service information and feedback: bbcworldwide.com/vod-feedback-...

[@fyedaniels2837]

This is so fascinating. Id rather spend my whole life studying about our solar system than rotting at my desk doing accounts 😩

[@matthewviramontes3131]

Then become an astrophysicist

[@forrestl5597]

@@matthewviramontes3131 Simple. Not your solution, you.

[@heraldhenry7217]

Studying both CA and CMA here🥵

[@landotucker]

I feel the same. I really suck at math though so I think a career in that area isn't going to happen ever

[@jedda6327]

@@forrestl5597 you*

[@seraph5765]

When I woke up this morning, I was not expecting to feel bad for the planet Mercury. Yet here we are.

[@No1_Planet]

[@eustab.anas-mann9510]

And now us humans are also littering on the planet Mercury.

[@megamanhikari8095]

@@eustab.anas-mann9510 it’s a rock in space. Shut up.

[@eustab.anas-mann9510]

@@megamanhikari8095 So is planet Earth. Isn't it?

[@azlan2907]

Almost like watching an anime antagonist’s back story

[@derekwarr8567]

I learned more about Mercury in this 10 minute video than I have in a lifetime

[@derekwarr8567]

@Satyam 12A aa wrong but thanks for playing

[@dawlben2247]

I heard about a crater with a mountainous region opposite it on Mercury.

[@cosmic9988]

@Satyam 12A aa if schools were to teach this in class he wouldnt have to

[@totallysmooth1203]

You learned nothing. These people are all Liberals.

[@oliverj.8266]

@@cosmic9988 why would school teach about this thou, besides something like astronomy class?

[@gautamr3098]

Finally this channel is now Alive

[@Hapa45lolo]

Empire of the Sun

[@jeffreycedenotorres6875]

They've improved their documentary a lot.

[@taunteratwill1787]

@@jeffreycedenotorres6875 And still they don't make sense! 😎

[@ricardioscarbonara102]

I've recently discovered them, this little series is amazing, hope to find/see more, Zachary Quinto is always a welcome voice also.

[@sandasturner9529]

@Group JW Productions ya troll lol.

[@cinderserpent3935]

Let's take a moment to appreciate the beautiful animations used in this documentary. IT'S AWESOME, also the narration fit so wonderfully.

[@BasedSly30]

CGI cuz space is fake

[@K1lostream]

I know! The addition of that ridiculous hat to that poor commentator's head was brilliantly done! A little cruel, perhaps but seamlessly done nonetheless.

[@jwil4905]

Let's take a moment to unify against the tired and annoying "Let's take a moment" prefix.

[@K1lostream]

J Wil - I'll second that, but I want to add in the crowd that say channels/videos/comments are 'underrated', which sounds at first like a complement, but what they're really saying is 'you cretins have failed to appreciate 'x' as fully as I do' which, apart from being something they can't possibly know, is annoying.

[@rustyshackleford574]

i appreciate thanking the animations instead of the “cameraman” like most clowns

[@WishMount]

I can’t wrap my head around how we built something that can just detect chemicals, perform 8-9 year missions and withstand and survive the harshness of space and just magically know how planets were created, what it’s core looks like from millions of light years away etc. truly baffling, yet planet Earth’s ocean is still the greatest mystery of our solar system

[@eskmob1960]

Because it's BS LOL

[@majinvegeta9280]

8 or 9 years. Voyager has been flying through space for near 47 years. Some are nuclear powered. Actually both voyagers have been 45 plus years

[@apprentessjgooden2263]

This is a great post 👍🏾, i just turned 46 January 4 2022, I've always been fascinated with the universe, Haley's Comet makes it's way back around to 🌎 every 90 something years 🤔, what brings this comet back? The Sun is Earth's God.

[@majinvegeta9280]

@@apprentessjgooden2263 the sun's gravity is what keeps it in an orbit that every 80 years we get to see it so it probably takes 80 years to make 1 complete orbit around the sun.

[@majinvegeta9280]

And also they don't know exactly what cores are made of. They the chemical makeups and pressures and can make a good assumption. Like the gas giants don't have a core like earth but saturn they think is exotic ices and some other things. Look into the liquid metallic hydrogen oceans in jupiter and saturn. It's not actually an ocean like that but the gasses have so much heat and pressure it changes the entire structures of elements. I think in Neptune or maybe Uranus they guess it may rain diamonds and have diamonds floating like icebergs cause the carbon had so much heat and pressure. The universe is simply amazing

[@christophermarshall4080]

I feel like Zachary Quinto narrating this makes me feel like it's Spock teaching some Starfleet cadets about the planets

[@davidpotter466]

I was about to say, that sounds like the J.J. Abrams, Spock.

[@joshuabrunetta4656]

Brain Cox did a much better job tbh

[@landotucker]

I thought I recognised that voice

[@legitpancake4276]

@@joshuabrunetta4656 That’s what annoyed me about the US broadcast of this series. I should import the UK dvds cause I’d like to rewatch with the original narration.

[@Sk_127]

Logical

[@usazar]

The experts, the animations, the narration... All top notch.

[@jimbocho660]

In BBC land most of the world's scientific experts are American women.

[@drmantistoboggan2870]

@@jimbocho660 why does it matter? Experts are experts lol

[@itachi1165]

@@drmantistoboggan2870 yet cant solve ppls deaths lmaooo but space we cant touch

[@drmantistoboggan2870]

@@itachi1165 yeah um wtf are you talking about

[@itachi1165]

@@drmantistoboggan2870 cuz ppl say this about space yet nothing in oceans or finding ppls killers lol

[@HiroariHourai]

They fr narrates Mercury's story like the backstory of a main character in a drama show

[@sourkoyote]

Am I smarter than a 5th grader if the 1st thing I thought of when they said "how did it end up so close to the sun & made almost entirely out of metal?" was, "it probably collided with another planet." ?

[@Pauly421]

I could watch planets smashing into each other in this epic detail ALL DAY it's so cool!

[@matthewviramontes3131]

Would you like it if something smashed into Uranus?

[@cunningfoxx3678]

🤣😂🤣🤣so unexpected

[@Pauly421]

@@matthewviramontes3131 Something already smashed into it now it's on it's side :P

[@justmeiniowa]

@@matthewviramontes3131 Actually yes, it's been far too long lol

[@paulgibbon5991]

It would be really cool to see a model of the early solar system. You'd have the proto-planets that collided with the early Earth and Neptune still around, Neptune wouldn't have grabbed Triton yet, Saturn would have no rings, Jupiter would be closer to the sun, there would be that theorietical extra planet that escaped the Sun's gravity entirely....

[@tomthai7674]

this the most beautiful documentary that I've ever seen. please accept my thanks for posting this. MOREEE

[@shrijanraj4630]

A beautiful documentary 🥰 Loved it!!!

[@nikkoracela]

Only 50,000 views? Dude, this is the most educational, interesting, simplest best thing right now

[@erichunsaker4969]

Ten days later, 285k views

[@commentsthatwillannoyyou9873]

373k views

[@nikkoracela]

@@commentsthatwillannoyyou9873 love it!

[@luisfernando5998]

@@nikkoracelabut 2 years later less than 1 mill views?

[@user-yi5eh1ki4b]

America is very ignorant and uneducated.

[@mrgrill4966]

I’m truly in love with this channel now

[@NightDocs]

Please give your VFX team more money. That animation of Mercury colliding with another planet was astounding

[@wrblue08]

It’s astounding because it was real. The cameraman followed mercury and stood on it till the probe crashed.

[@alaskajdw]

Great work. Make more like this please

[@nathancommissariat3518]

I love these videos. Our solar system holds so many stories....

[@lickthatsweater2841]

becoming re-obsessed with astronomy while rewatching star trek, and I stumbled across zachary quinto narrating this. what is the universe trying to say? anyway mercury is so underrated

[@Svnshine3_11]

Same, I agree Mercury is cool

[@titan9259]

What about all the dwarf planets other than Pluto?

[@morgan4212]

I first thought it was Sutherland,then Quinto won out

[@andiparker3733]

Funny you mention Star Trek as the fact that Mercury is mostly metal as stated here I couldn't help but think of the Dyson Sphere from Next Generation where they rediscover Scotty held in a transporter buffer... Maybe there's a civilisation under there.. 🤔🤔🤔 Doctor Who story idea right there!

[@jaypaint4855]

@@titan9259 THEM TOO...YOU AS WELL

[@MichaelMiller-op8fe]

I've been waiting for you. Subscribed!

[@vincentdalisay8045]

The cameraman had the most sacrificial job of all. I salute you!

[@purmaa6520]

Its animations🙄I know it's a joke but we are serious here so.

[@hightowerzion]

@@purmaa6520 you’re the only one that can’t take a joke without being a buzzkill

[@jadendewar4694]

@@purmaa6520 dont be a buzzkill

[@itcangetbetter]

@@purmaa6520 Seriously, it's a joke

[@tyrikshoulders1071]

@@hightowerzion Nnonl

[@ViyabiSirathanongsil]

This channel give me so much…idk happiness? Joy? Idk but i loved every second of these vdos

[@utahcornelius9704]

This is beautiful and it does give you a sense of scale of the eight planets. Putting the asteroid belt there, and indicating the incredible width of that belt between Mars and Jupiter, would have been nice. Also, the suggestion that Neptune is the edge of the Solar System is incorrect. The distance from the Sun to Earth is 1 Astronomical Unit (AU). The distance from the Sun to Neptune is 30 AU. At Neptune begins the Kuiper Belt of comets. It's very wide, too. All that stuff orbits the Sun on a fairly flat plane. A bit beyond the Kuiper Belt is the Heliopause. This is where the Solar Wind ends. The solar wind is plasma emitted from the Sun's Corona, its outermost layer. That solar wind stretches about 123 AU from the Sun, another 90 AU beyond Neptune, at 30 AU. Then you enter interstellar space, which is still not the end of the Solar System. You cross that space for somewhere between another 880-1,880 AU. That's right, 1 AU to Earth. 30 AU to Neptune. 123 AU to Interstellar Space. And another 880-1,880 AU to...the Oort Cloud. The Oort Cloud is a collection of more comets which are out there in a sphere around the entire solar system. The Oort Cloud is hypothetical, but pretty much all astrophysicists and astronomers agree that it's there, because Oort Clouds exist around other socarl systems, and because you need an Oort Cloud to feed the Kuiper Belt, which in turn sends comets into the inner planet space inside the Asteroid Belt. Like the comets that pass or fall into Earth. Without the Oort Cloud feeding the Kuiper Belt, the Kuiper Belt would have run out of comets long, long ago. And it didn't. Well, that Oort Cloud then extends another 50,000 to 100,000 AU farther out into space. The outside of the Oort Cloud is where the SOLAR SYSTEM ENDS. That's where the Sun's gravitational pull runs out. So, from the Sun to Earth is 1 AU, to Neptune is 30 AU, and out of the Solar System is 50,000 to 100,000 AU THAT'S how big the Solar System is. And 1 AU from the Sun to the Earth is 93 million miles. I haven't done the math, but that map of the Solar System isn't 7 miles. It's about the size of the U.S. And that's just our tiny little solar system in a galaxy witha hundred billion stars. As Douglas Adams said in "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "space is really big."

[@NeroHobbit]

Could you guys by any chance tell us what music you use in the background, it sounds like a lovely piece

[@xXVioletXx1]

Agreed

[@Suburp212]

Kudos to the camerateam capturing the impact of the probe in Mercury.

[@Sneakyboson]

I always thought mercury was the remnant of a gas giant that had its atmosphere sucked away by the sun, leaving only its iron core.

[@419]

That sounds like a great idea, but now knowing the truth, or being somewhat closer to it, it sounds completely ridiculous. Interesting how a few small details can completely change a story.

[@419]

@Orange Fort I have no idea but my guess is that the moon has more because asteroids/meteors may burn up much more before reaching mercury; the earth attracts more objects to the moon's direction because it has more mass than mercury, less objects are between outer asteroids/meteors and the moon compared with mercury, making them act as a shield of sorts, and mercury is denser so impacts are smaller than they would be on the moon.

[@diocletian607]

I thought it was the home planet for the xenomorphs

[@MossyMozart]

@@419 - Yes, you are correct - Mercury would have the last in line to be slammed by the great bombardments, apparently caused by Jupiter's disruption of the Asteroid Belt.

[@luisfernando5998]

Is that what happened to Uranus ?

[@user-oo1yk6is9e]

Excellent video. Thanks for posting.

[@ziyaemre]

Amazing animations. Very well done

[@doomscyte1087]

huge respect for the cameraman that risked his life to record the last moment of Messenger while standing on a scorching planet

[@fn716]

Huge responsibility for the originality

[@rubiks6]

It might have been interesting to mention the extreme cold of Mercury's dark side.

[@MrGrace]

Right. That's the most interesting thing to me. How something so close to the sun can have negative degree temperatures 🌡

[@Sneakyboson]

And now, you've mentioned it. Case closed.

[@fisher1634]

I think its because Mercury doesn't have an atmosphere, and it has a really slow rotation having to take 59 Earth days just for one Mercury day. This means that the dark side freezes over and the light side gets constantly scorched, and with no atmosphere to distribute the Sun's heat across the planet.

[@rubiks6]

@@fisher1634 - Bingo. However, Mercury does rotate very slowly, once every 176 days in relation to the Sun, so that every part of Mercury gets exposed to the Sun sometimes and every part is in shadow sometimes.

[@luisfernando5998]

What about the extreme cold of Uranus ?

[@rohtashighs8750]

Wonderful work by the cameraman who took all videos of messenger satellite and mercury together😂

[@suerkopeal1931]

Great job guys sending love from the Philippines 🇵🇭

[@darthex0]

It makes sense to me that a planet would form closer to the sun with a higher proportion of the heavy elements. The t tauri phase would have had more effect on the volatiles by percentage. I cannot explain the orbit though.

[@yungbloodas3789]

I think the problem was more so how small of a rocky crust it has? It having a big metal core makes sense but it’s crust was much thinner than expected.

[@Mobius118]

I think that idea holds a great deal of plausibility. The odd orbit could be explained by either early impacts or the influence of early protoplanets gravitational fields

[@rick23velvet30]

Sorry is bad idea for exoplanet is planet born baby

[@xorlux]

Anyone knows the song/music/soundtrack used throughout the intro or first part of the video ? 1:14

[@lucaskanyo]

La meilleure chaîne sur youtube!!!! HABEMOS BBC REELS

[@anmolbhuwania4745]

Thank you BBC Earth Lab!

[@sirturtlewm5633]

In my language Mercury has the coolest nickname in all of solar system object, "The Frozen Furnace".

[@paulgibbon5991]

That was my favourite Dark Souls level. 😀

[@No1_Planet]

I should put that in my about page…

[@luisfernando5998]

@@paulgibbon5991what about Uranus ?

[@hypercomms2001]

Could the planet that mercury grazed up against. be Venus? Perhaps that would explain why Venus rotate slowly backwards?

[@tma240cass]

Ye

[@13_cmi]

What about the moon and it’s massive crater on the bottom of it?

[@javiermendez9365]

Makes sense that it could have been Venus.

[@MrWolynski]

This explains how Mercury and Venus formed: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX6TeZxmjtx0gKM

[@thomashills2470]

I say it hit us. I mean we were hit by another ball of flaming rocks (planet embryo) which caused enough debris to create the moon

[@ludovicflames4643]

I enjoyed this, thank you!

[@shashidharshettar3846]

I love these BBC videos

[@EvenWaysMusic]

I cant believe how good the camera man was who filmed this - He went so far and so many dangerous places

[@darrenjones1413]

This joke is getting boring

[@ofgs2]

I love both the British and US version of this series. Brian Cox is amazing, but so is Zachary Quinto’s narration in this

[@kidvohnz7791]

I knew it! I knew it was the bad guy from heroes narrating this..🤣🤣

[@phild8238]

Props to the crew who filmed on site

[@daniellepage2923]

What a beautiful rendition So many questions

[@farraelena4570]

it's so poetic 😩

[@topdog5252]

Man it’s cool to think that even now, something humans made on earth is lying on Mercury! Crazy

[@D.H.1082]

We are slowly but surely stepping into the sky above. Leaving our "fingerprints" on the world outside of our world.

[@CR-qu5jc]

I love these videos

[@jongrotrian5067]

Poetic, the narration is.

[@bowlampar]

It's sad to see Messenger ending in this way after its mission.

[@TheTruth-ir7sz]

My birthday again

[@TheTruth-ir7sz]

Everything is me, Why

[@windhelmguard5295]

better than floating in space until the sun goes red giant on it.

[@Kingsterbuddy]

What song is at 0:51

[@PepeLePhrogg]

This story was beautiful

[@luisfernando5998]

What about the story of Uranus ?

[@edwinmhlanga5421]

Beautiful

[@kisaki1016]

The bgm of messages is so beautiful!!! Who can tell me the name?

[@sureshpanchal4068]

No idea but it is from the 1st episode of the series "The planets"

[@hanyoukimura]

Forgot I was subscribed to this channel, it's been so long since it uploaded. Also, is the narrator Zachary Quinto? I'm imagining Invincible's Robot narrating this. Really nice production values. I'd like to watch the whole thing.

[@WebbmasterGaming]

apparently it is Zachary Quinto. Or at least he narrates the US version.

[@poojasrivastava6325]

Amazing discovery

[@christinascheuerman7129]

So beautiful

[@sjh3217]

I wonder if the young Earth may have been partially responsible for Mercury's current position.

[@Dtuba15]

I’ve read in some scientific articles that a lot of scientist believe that the large body that collided with earth to form the moon was mercury

[@levi4979]

I wonder how it would show on the planet that shoved Mercury. Could we observe the mark Mercury left? I think Earth's plate tectonics could wipe the evidence away, so maybe it was Earth indeed.

[@stuartaaron613]

Perhaps the other planetary embryo that the young Mercury hit was Venus. This might also explain Venus' very slow, retrograde rotation as well.

[@viruchamp]

This program is best enjoyed while reading the book of the same title. 😃

[@chaneyphillips8317]

I love this channel

[@anthonyschocke2831]

I agree with this theory of brushing against another embryo and Mercury, it may even explain why Mercury spins so slow. Mercury may have even hit another object at the distance of Mercury’s far point from the Sun explaining the elliptical orbit and a thing I found with Mercury’s map if you look closely at the west part of Mercury’s map you can see a huge shifted piece of Mercury’s crust that could have been formed by a collision with a small embryo. Edit: The Shifted Mercury crust is most visible in the map of Mercury TerraGenesis uses.

[@brightax7502]

ayyy fellow TerraGenesis player

[@metalbowling]

Wouldn't it have approached from the opposite side of the planet to shed its inertia?

[@muhinyi]

wow great episode

[@kycutecool5891]

Amazing..

[@attacktitan09]

Even if Mercury was in Goldie lock zone it could not be able to sustain life, because it's so small it doesn't have strong enough Gravity to hold the atmosphere around it. The atmosphere will simply leake into space, and due to its weak gravity, the Magnetic field would also be weak and so the solar radiation could easily pass through atmosphere and kill life.

[@brightax7502]

Yeah just like what happened to mars

[@TheUnstableNutcase]

Titan is like the exact same size as Mercury pretty much, yet it has huge amounts of atmosphere, so I don't think size alone is a determining factor

[@shyvanaleona2212]

When, some celestials played planets like marble. 😁

[@pratikkatkar7885]

Messager explores mercury so great

[@luisfernando5998]

But what explored Uranus ?

[@samarthsamarth7465]

Very much interesting

[@KissyKaede]

I think Mercury was once the core of a gas giant, I think that's the only way to explain its density.

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

It isn't. Mercury's composition and orbital dynamics are extremely inconsistent with the idea of it being a gas giant core.

[@Mobius118]

A fair postulation, I presume. That would explain a few things about the core

[@moniquepeterson3327]

Wayyy more better than what I would learn in science class

[@iwantanaivanovic2962]

My heart is bleeding for your "science class"

[@shawntepitts488]

Big hug

[@janinedodge2097]

Awesome❤️

[@japyoo2248]

They should ask freddy

[@jjww30]

You don’t have new theories, you have new hypothesis. There’s a very big difference in science.

[@jollyomeatLA]

Say it again for the scientists in the back!

[@joshuasnore3600]

Absolutely amazing documentary. KUDOS.

[@azeas3412]

Insane Cameraman flying behind it filming everything!

[@SirNobleIZH]

Mercury: Hit another larger planet... Glancing blow... Lost a lot of rock... Theia: Hit another larger planet... Glancing blow... Lost a lot of rock... HMMMMMMMMMMM

[@jasonhaymanonthedrawingboard]

If Mercury is a collision remnant then it’s possible if formed in the asteroid belt. And it’s crust form part of the asteroid belt. Ceres is a remnant from this collision.

[@itinerantpatriot1196]

I remember seeing a documentary where they hypothesized that Mercury might be chock full of gold because it formed so close to the sun that it captured a lot of the heavy elements. Well, this video blows that theory out of the water. Guess I'll put away that Reynolds Wrap mining suit I've been working on. 😕

[@ubaft3135]

Mercury: Hi Scientists: Why are you like this?

[@sayanpaul8837]

Imagination could lead us the path that we've never imagined . Just think of those brilliant minds that studied those craters and gave birth to the most important question about Mercury .

[@ayushdogra7850]

Props to the cameraman who flew alongside Mariner for years to capture this footage for us 🙌❤

[@Vasta.]

A beautiful and mysterious planet

[@michaelmoran2022]

Fantastic👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@tommunyon2874]

I would postulate that much of the volatile elements in Venus' atmosphere could be those of Mercury's original crust.

[@vigneshkr7072]

I think the planetary embryo that brushed mercury developed into Venus as Venus is massive as earth and also has a very thick atmosphere. Maybe it got all that extra crust and atmosphere from mercury.

[@vivianaj8733]

Gave me a lil bit of goosebumps

[@user-tt1iq3ss2z]

Best video of my life 😮

[@TJSaw]

I imagine the habitable zone on Mercury, because it is tidally locked, will be a thin ring between the scorched side that faces the Sun and the cold, dead side that faces away from the Sun. A sort of a forever twilight zone where the temperature is just right. I wonder if there’s a planet out there somewhere that harbours life in this way.

[@yeshuasage3724]

There is no habitable zone on mercury

[@AdamantMindset]

@@yeshuasage3724 that's just from our humans standard of life.. we have no clue of other life forms who might only survive in extreme heat or cold.

[@deepakmahto678]

It might be tardigrades

[@-GWL]

Mercury is not tidaly locked. It's rotational pirod, although similar to its orbital pirod, is different.

[@taunteratwill1787]

@@yeshuasage3724 Depends on your habitable definition i guess. 😂

[@sohistoriatriste9428]

Amo documentários pena não ter legendas em português

[@ortherner]

ye

[@miroiumarius5208]

Name of the soundtrack from the beginning of this? That sounds so cool

[@BruthItzAli2]

wow thats cool

[@dannyleung2796]

Early Mercury collided with Earth, lost its crust and changed course toward the Sun while Earth lost a chunk that has later become the moon?

[@AaronShenghao]

Or Mars

[@KissMyFatAxe]

This is partly true. A planet which we named "Theia" which was roughly the size of Mars, hit the Earth with a glancing blow and the moon formed out of the debris. But it wasn't Mercury. It's only a hypothesis though it's not really something we could ever prove for sure. But we have round identical rocks on the Moon and the Earth, so the theory does hold up in terms of what we've found so far. It's the most widely accepted theory amongst the science community, at least in my experience.

[@dannyleung2796]

@@KissMyFatAxe The theory of how the Moon came about is well known but where is this planet Theia now? Where has it gone after hitting Earth? Is it possible that Mercury is actually Theia? A "planet' the size of Mars did not just vanished after a collision. It would continue going around the Sun albeit a slightly different orbit. Our Earth did just that and is still a member of the Solar System but planet Theia is nowhere to be found.

[@renatoandresmartinezrubio8428]

@@dannyleung2796 it didn´t collide and continue going around the sun , the planet that provided most of the mass for the formation of Earth and Theia collided and fused together becoming the Early Earth , the leftovers became the moon

[@KissMyFatAxe]

@@dannyleung2796 the debris likely forked a ring around Earth, and over time they crashed together and combined to form the moon. Theia, is the moon.

[@tjhouston1280]

I believe every planet has a purpose… and that was to help one planet to sustain life. And that ended up being the planet we call earth.

[@guifdcanalli]

the beauty of the universe is the absence of purpose we are here because a series of random happenings that the universe made, how awesome it is? so much life and experiences here on earth came from sheer luck in this vast cosmos

[@juandominguez5885]

Try again

[@tjhouston1280]

@@juandominguez5885 anyways like I said. All planets have a purpose. In my opinion and observation

[@sarauniyaGH]

@@guifdcanalli an innumerable amount of complexities as *sheer luck* ?? Lol I don't think so. For every creation there is a creator.

[@guifdcanalli]

@@sarauniyaGH the idea of everything having a purpose is a human concept, we always want to give simbolism and purpose for every event, even tho they are in essence just consequences from other events that themselves are just consequences and so on

[@joyfullbuster5016]

Thanks to camera man for a beautiful clip

[@krnedwag]

Don't allow really to step you at all. Keep making it up as u go

[@arcosprey4811]

What if Mercury is actually Theia and thats why the moon looks so similar.

[@brightax7502]

it can’t be theia

[@vinzer72frie]

theia merged with earth thats why we have a metal core and the highest planet density

[@brightax7502]

@@vinzer72frie doesn’t every planet have a metal core?

[@BestMods168]

No.

[@vinzer72frie]

@@brightax7502 I meant to say a big one for our size also we have metal structures in the lower mantle which are theia's remnants

[@lucasnicoara7400]

Could it be that Mercury crashed into Earth, with its crust forming the Moon and then falling towards the Sun?

[@Alte.Kameraden]

I had the same thought. Theory that something big crashed into Earth to create material to create such a large moon we have has been around for a very long time. Perhaps that large body that hit Earth was Mercury, perhaps it wasn't Mercury that hit Earth but Earth that hit Mercury.

[@nickdouglas736]

Not really

[@cathodert7890]

But the chemistry of Mercury and the moon's crust are different, so it is very unlikely that mercury hit earth and formed the moon

[@dweebteambuilderjones7627]

Absolutely not. OG Mercury didn't have enough material to make a Moon-sized object and still have its current size left over, I don't think that's even physically possible for gravitational reasons, and Theia wasn't even from the inner solar system.

[@Moodboard39]

@@Alte.Kameraden we wouldnt here, thats a stupid thought. Doesn't explain humans, good and evil animals, idiots come with stupid ridiculous theories.

[@bananian]

The collision must have slowed it down so much it fell into a much closer orbit.

[@wicho99w99]

Does anyone know if those clips are from a full documentary?