Scientists propose a shocking new theory for the origin of the moon - and claim the popular 'collision theory' is WRONG

Despite being our planet's closest neighbour, scientists have been grappling with the mystery of our moon's origin for hundreds of years. A new theory suggests that the moon might not have been formed by a collision with an ancient protoplanet but through a process called 'binary-exchange capture' Researchers suggest that the moon might have started out as one part of a planetary binary, two large rocky bodies which orbit each other as they drift through space In 1984, scientists gathered for the Kona Conference in Hawaii to come to a consensus on how the moon had formed. Scientists believe the moon was formed as the resultant ring of debris collected into a sphere The binary-exchange capture theory The moon may have started out as one part of a 'planetary binary', two rocky bodies orbiting each other as they drift through space. But the moon's orbital plane is angled at about 7 degrees from the equator Using a mathematical model, the scientists calculated that the Earth could capture an object between one and 10 times its mass if it was travelling at the right speed and the other part of the binary had a large enough mass. Scientists believe that Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, was originally a planetary binary in the Keuper belt before being captured As this graph shows, when the moon first arrived, its orbit would be shaped like an oval rather than the circle we are more familiar with The researchers admit that their theory would be hard to prove and relies on several 'implausible events' happening at once.