Another reason earth is special – its moon is a cosmic rarity

The earth’s moon was created when an object as big as the planet Mars smacked into the Earth billions of years ago and the impact hurled debris into orbit, some of which eventually consolidated to form our Moon. A study by US astronomers published in the Astrophysical Journal reports that only 5-10% of planetary systems in the Universe have moons created this way.

This finding supports James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis or similar which points out the amazing system of nature that supports earth’s biosphere and raises awareness that we must look after this unique system better than we have in the last 100 years.