Lunar-forming collisions with pre-impact rotation

Abstract

Abstract Prior models of lunar-forming impacts assume that both the impactor and the target protoearth were not rotating prior to the Moon-forming event. However, planet formation models suggest that such objects would have been rotating rapidly during the late stages of terrestrial accretion. In this paper I explore the effects of pre-impact rotation on impact outcomes through more than 100 hydrodynamical simulations that consider a range of impactor masses, impact angles and impact speeds. Pre-impact rotation, particularly in the target protoearth, can substantially alter collisional outcomes and leads to a more diverse set of final planet–disk systems than seen previously. However, the subset of these impacts that are also lunar-forming candidates—i.e. that produce a sufficiently massive and iron-depleted protolunar disk—have properties similar to those determined for collisions of non-rotating objects [Canup, R.M., Asphaug, E., 2001. Nature 412, 708–712; Canup, R.M., 2004a. Icarus 168, 433–456]. With or without pre-impact rotation, a lunar-forming impact requires an impact angle near 45 degrees, together with a low impact velocity that is not more than 10% larger than the Earth's escape velocity, and produces a disk containing up to about two lunar masses that is composed predominantly of material originating from the impactor. The most significant differences in the successful cases involving pre-impact spin occur for impacts into a retrograde rotating protoearth, which allow for larger impactors (containing up to 20% of Earth's mass) and provide an improved match with the current Earth–Moon system angular momentum compared to prior results. The most difficult state to reconcile with the Moon is that of a rapidly spinning, low-obliquity protoearth before the giant impact, as these cases produce disks that are not massive enough to yield the Moon.