253: Chapter 253: An astonishing coincidence on the moon!

National Astronomical Observatory, inside the conference room.

On the big screen, Jiang Zhe's narration continued.

Zhang Lin couldn't help but say: "Every hypothesis he mentioned can only explain a portion of the phenomena."

"Xiao Jiang summarized it quite accurately." Professor Zhang Qinian nodded. "This is the current dilemma in research on the Moon's origin. The Fission Theory can explain the isotopic similarity but cannot explain the angular momentum problem. The Capture Theory can explain the orbit but cannot explain the compositional similarity. The Giant Impact Hypothesis is currently the most mainstream, but it also has fatal flaws."

Wang Weiguo took over the conversation: "Especially the issue of the compositional difference between the near side and the far side of the Moon. The samples brought back by Chang'e 5 don't match the samples from Apollo."

"If the Moon was truly formed by accretion from a debris disk after a giant impact, it should be uniformly mixed."

A young researcher raised a hand to ask: "Could it be caused by the evolution of a magma ocean in the later stages?"

"What you said can explain a part of it." Professor Zhang Qinian shook his head gently. "But it cannot explain such a large difference—the composition of that highland on the far side of the Moon and the lunar maria on the near side are two completely different worlds. This cannot be explained by late-stage evolution."

Zhang Lin was thoughtful: "So when Xiaoyu's brother says that piecing together various hypotheses doesn't lead to the truth, that is indeed the current situation."

Wang Weiguo stared at the big screen: "Let's hear what he says next. Since he dares to speak like this, he must have a backup plan."

...

Inside the villa living room.

Xiao Yu listened, somewhat stunned, nodding like a chick pecking at rice: "Then, then how exactly should it be explained?"

Jiang Zhe's gaze fell on Xiao Yu: "As for how to explain it, you first need to know—the peculiarity of the Moon."

"Peculiarity?"

"Yes." Jiang Zhe picked up the tablet again, swiped his fingers across the screen a few times, and brought up a series of comparative data: "First, look at a set of data."

He aimed the tablet at Xiao Yu, and Xiao Yu leaned in to look. An image with data appeared before her.

"Ganymede — The largest satellite in the Solar System: Diameter 5268 km / Jupiter Diameter 139820 km ≈ 1/27!"

"Titan — Saturn's moon: Diameter 5150 km / Saturn Diameter 116460 km ≈ 1/24!"

"Moon: Diameter 3474 km / Earth Diameter 12742 km ≈ 1/4!"

He tapped the screen gently and asked: "Do you see the problem?"

Xiao Yu stared at the image and the numerical comparison on the screen, her beautiful eyes slowly widening: "The other satellites are all one-thirtieth or so of their primary planets, only the Moon, it's actually one-fourth of the Earth?"

"Correct!" Jiang Zhe nodded slightly. "In the Solar System, the size ratio between a satellite and its primary planet is generally around a few percent. Ganymede is one-twenty-seventh of Jupiter, Titan is one-twenty-fourth of Saturn. Other small satellites are even smaller, some one-hundredth or one-thousandth."

"But the Moon is one-fourth of the Earth."

Xiao Yu couldn't help but gasp: "Then, that's too big, right?"

"Yes, very big, and very unnatural." Jiang Zhe asked again: "Xiao Yu, now try using the Capture Theory; how could the Earth possibly capture something one-fourth its own size?"

He manipulated the tablet for a few seconds and brought up a simulation animation.

"This is the mechanical model of the Capture Theory. For a large-mass celestial body to fly near the Earth and be captured by Earth's gravity, it requires extremely harsh conditions. It needs its speed to be just right, its angle to be just right, and it also needs third-party gravity to participate in deceleration!"

In the screen animation, the light dot of an ancient wandering planet grazed past the Earth, either brushing past it directly or crashing into it head-on.

Continue operating the simulation!

The ancient Moon crashed directly into the Earth, resulting in a giant Earth-Moon collision, shattering and annihilating!

Continue operating the simulation!

The ancient Moon brushed past the Earth, dragging a portion of the magma from the ancient magma Earth up into the sky. Then, the Earth's magma column formed a towering magma mountain, and the Moon continued to brush past.

Ten simulations, ten failures—the Moon could not have been captured by the Earth!

"After simulating so many times, do you see it now?" Jiang Zhe put down the tablet. "Given the Moon's mass, Earth's meager gravity simply cannot catch it. Even if it were lucky enough to catch it, the orbit should be highly elliptical, not the near-perfect circular orbit we have now."

Xiao Yu furrowed her brows: "So the Capture Theory..."

"Doesn't hold water."

"Exactly!"

...

Inside the physics professor dormitory at Huaqing University.

Guan Jingming took out his laptop and quickly operated the keyboard to perform calculations.

Old Wu from the side leaned over: "What are you calculating?"

"The probability of Earth capturing the Moon." Professor Guan replied without lifting his head. "Let's verify it using orbital mechanics formulas."

"Assuming the mass of the wandering Moon is 1/81 of the Earth's, taking the typical Solar System flyby speed of 10 km/s, and considering the range of gravitational influence and the deceleration mechanism, in this initial state, it requires the intervention of a third-party celestial body between the Earth and the Moon!"

A few minutes later, he stopped and stared at the results on the screen.

Ouyang Baili leaned over: "What did you calculate?"

Professor Guan said with a complex expression: "The conclusion tells me—the Earth could not have actively captured the Moon as a satellite."

Li Mo asked with raised eyebrows: "Teacher, what's the probability?"

"It's not a probability issue." Professor Guan shook his head gently. "It's physically impossible. Given the Moon's mass, the amount of deceleration required to change it from a hyperbolic orbit to an elliptical orbit is something Earth's meager gravity simply cannot provide."

"Unless there was a third large-mass celestial body nearby to help at that time, but who was in the Solar System then? Mars? Too small. Venus? Also small. Jupiter? Too far."

"The Capture Theory has been directly shot down by these few words from Jiang Zhe."

Ouyang Baili, Professor Wu, and Li Mo looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief: "That is very intriguing."

This is like...

The Moon drove over from somewhere, and then...

Parked near the Earth. Of course, there are other possibilities, but other possibilities require conditions that are too harsh!

At this moment, on the big screen, the barrage exploded like a tsunami.

"Holy crap, I've never noticed this ratio!"

"Ganymede is 1/27 of Jupiter, the Moon is 1/4 of the Earth, is it really that big?"

"It's not just big, it's fucking too big!"

"No wonder the Capture Theory has always been controversial; the Earth simply couldn't catch it!"

"So where exactly did the Moon come from?"

"Don't rush, Big Brother is still talking!"

...

Inside the villa living room.

Jiang Zhe waited for Xiao Yu to digest it for a few minutes before continuing:

"The second peculiarity—"

He continued to manipulate his tablet and brought up a schematic diagram.

On the left was a large circle representing the Sun, on the right was a small circle representing the Earth, and in the middle was an even smaller circle representing the Moon.

Three lines connected the three spheres.

"Perfect solar eclipse."

"Solar eclipse? Big Brother, what's special about this?"

"Calculate the ratio." Jiang Zhe pointed the screen at Xiao Yu, pointing at the numbers on the screen: "The distance between the Moon and the Earth is approximately 1/400 of the distance between the Sun and the Earth. And the diameter of the Moon is also exactly approximately 1/400 of the Sun's diameter."

"When an object's distance is inversely proportional to its diameter, their apparent angular diameters in the human eye will be equal."

Xiao Yu squinted, thought for a moment, and then her eyes slowly brightened: "So from Earth, the Sun and the Moon look the same size?"

"Yes." Jiang Zhe nodded. "The angular diameter of the Sun and the angular diameter of the Moon are almost exactly equal. So when the Moon moves directly in front of the Sun, it can just perfectly cover the Sun's disk, forming a total solar eclipse."

He continued to manipulate the tablet and brought up a photo of a total solar eclipse.

A black disk was perfectly embedded in the very center of the Sun, with a circle of silvery-white corona slowly spilling out around it.

"You've seen this image, right?"

"I have, there are many photos online."

"Then do you know how special this image is? In the Solar System, no other planet's satellite can do this."

He continued to operate the tablet and brought up another set of comparison images.

Mars's satellite Phobos passed in front of the Sun like a tiny black dot, stuck on the Sun's face like a mole.

Jupiter's satellites passed in front of the Sun, but they were too big and completely blocked the entire Sun, not letting a single ray of light through.

Saturn's satellites were the same, either too small or too big.

"As you can see, only Earth." Jiang Zhe put down the tablet and said with a slight nod: "Only Earth's Moon happens to be able to perfectly cover the Sun, just enough to reveal that ring of corona."

Xiao Yu's mouth was open, unable to speak for a long time: "This!!!"

Jiang Zhe continued: "This 1/400 ratio is unique among the known planetary satellite systems in the Solar System. It can be said to be a cosmic-level coincidence!"

"It's equivalent to saying that the relationship between the Moon and the Earth is a scaled-down version of the relationship between the Earth and the Sun."

"If the Moon were a little smaller, it wouldn't work; if the distance were closer, it wouldn't work; if it were further away, it wouldn't work. It has to be just right."

"Everything has to be just right to allow for the Earth's distinct four seasons; the normal cycle of the Sun and Moon, the normal rising and setting of light, not too bright, and not too dark!"

Xiao Yu gasped: "My God, Big Brother, I never noticed this before. Put this way, it seems too terrifying."

"It's a bit like what you mentioned before about the Earth being alive, as if everything was a cosmic coincidence designed for life to be born on Earth!"

"Exactly!" Jiang Zhe smiled slightly. "A cosmic-level coincidence!"

As he finished speaking, the barrage in the live broadcast room went completely crazy!

"I'm fucking getting goosebumps!"

"1/400, just right!"

"I checked the data for other planets. Mars's Phobos has an angular diameter only a fraction of the Sun's, Titan is even smaller, not to mention other satellites. In the entire Solar System, only the Moon can cover the Sun and reveal a bit of a halo!"

"Fuck, I don't dare to think any further!"

...

At this time, Qingfeng Temple.

Zheng Ming listened to the comparison images and data provided by Jiang Zhe, and the expression on his face suddenly froze.

"This..."

Robert sat next to him, his brows slightly furrowed, but his mood was still calm.

Zheng Ming turned his head to look at him with a look of help.

Robert paused for two and a half seconds and slowly opened his mouth: "It's just a coincidence."

"Why didn't he mention that the Moon is moving away from the Earth by a few centimeters every year?"

"In 2026, it can indeed be a perfect solar eclipse, but what about hundreds of millions of years ago? What about hundreds of millions of years later? The Earth-Moon distance is constantly changing. This so-called perfect match is just a moment in geological time."

Zheng Ming's brows twitched, and his confidence recovered slightly.

Robert scanned the three people: "Moreover, the Sun's diameter is also slowly changing; billions of years later, when the Sun expands into a red giant, this ratio will be even less likely to be maintained. The so-called perfect solar eclipse is just something we humans happened to encounter."

He spread his hands, shrugged, and said indifferently: "Coincidence, nothing more, nothing to make a fuss about!"

Hearing this, Zheng Ming regained some confidence: "Makes sense."

On the big screen, on the living room sofa.

Xiao Yu recovered from her shock, her beautiful eyes becoming brighter and brighter: "Is there more, is there more?"

Her interest had clearly been fully piqued.

Jiang Zhe smiled slightly: "Naturally, there is."

He took a sip of black tea and continued: "The third point, the mind-boggling aspects of the Moon's craters and structure."