How did the Moon form? Origin story gets a new plot twist

The origins of the Moon have long been a subject of scientific debate, but recent research offers new insights into its formation. While this model has substantial support, including evidence from the composition of Earth’s mantle and lunar rocks, a new study introduces intriguing nuances to this established narrative. Their findings indicate that shortly after its formation, the Moon orbited Earth at a distance approximately 5% of its current average distance of 3,84,400 kilometers. The study also examined the Moon's orbit, which is slightly elliptical with an eccentricity of 0.0549, varying between 3,64,397 km and 4,06,731 km from Earth. They found that polar orbits were the most stable during the Moon's early formation, but as the Earth-Moon distance increased, these stable polar orbits diminished.