Chaos and Order (1999)
How the Moon formed is something astronomers have been wondering for ages. The best
idea is that put forward by Bill Hartmann — an astronomer and fellow space artist
— and Donald Davis. They assert that a massive protoplanet slammed into Earth just
after it had formed, creating a ring of debris around the young planet. The Moon then
formed later as the material in this disc clumped together. This picture shows the
process in three stages.
