274: Chapter 274: Could the Moon be the remnant of Tiamat?

In the suburbs of Kyoto, the National Astronomical Observatory.

Outside, the night was thick and dark; in the distance lay the vast, empty fields of the suburbs, occasionally passed by vehicles with their high beams on.

The conference room was brightly lit, with the sound of the air conditioning mixing with the clatter of keyboards.

Professor Zhang Qinian sat at the head of the conference table, his gaze fixed motionlessly on the large screen that had gone black.

Behind him, along a long table, six laptops were lined up.

Lines of data and charts flashed continuously across the computer screens of Zhang Lin and several young researchers.

A female researcher reported without looking up, "Professor Zhang, I have already pulled the rock data from the far side of the moon."

"The first round of the simulation program for Venus's orbital evolution has finished running, but the parameters need further adjustment," another young male researcher reported.

After typing out a segment of code, Zhang Lin looked up and saw Professor Zhang still standing there, "Professor, what are you thinking about? Why aren't you starting? We've already built the framework for the entire paper; we're just waiting for you to set the direction."

Professor Zhang Qinian slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over these excited young people.

He said with a deep expression:

"I'm thinking that over at Huaqing University, they are definitely focusing their efforts tonight on the point about the moon being flung out by Venus."

"Ouyang Baili and his team were beaten by us to the publication about tiamat last time, so they are definitely holding back their strength, waiting to win a round back this time."

Zhang Lin nodded repeatedly, "That's for sure. That group of people never accepts defeat."

"So!" Professor Zhang Qinian's gaze drifted unconsciously toward the window, "If we continue to write the same things as them, it's nothing more than a question of who runs faster and whose data is more complete."

"Even if we win, we'd only be winning on speed."

Several researchers stopped what they were doing and looked at Professor Zhang Qinian in unison.

"Professor, what do you mean by that?"

Professor Zhang Qinian's gaze fell on Zhang Lin, "I'm thinking about the origin of the moon. I keep feeling that Xiaoyu's brother has given Xiao Yu many hints—the moon didn't come from outside the Solar System, but from a certain moment early on inside the Solar System."

"Ever since he provided Formula A, this direction has existed, but it's a point that he didn't say out loud, one that neither Xiao Yu nor any of us realized."

"Do you all still remember that Asteroid Belt next to Mars?"

Zhang Lin said thoughtfully, "Of course I remember. Formula A calculated that there should have been a planet in that location, but only a pile of rubble remains."

"Mathematics doesn't lie." Professor Zhang Qinian's eyes narrowed instantly, "The Asteroid Belt only retains 4% of the mass. So where did the remaining 96% go?"

"Most of it slammed into Mars; that was the result of our last simulation."

"Especially the craters in the northern hemisphere of Mars; that's how they came to be."

"But I'm also thinking—"

At this point, his voice gradually became serious,

"Did that planet really disappear completely?"

"Or is it possible that a portion of the debris was flung to other parts of the Solar System?"

Zhang Lin suddenly sat up straight, "Professor, are you saying...?"

"Yes, I'm thinking of a more daring possibility." Professor Zhang Qinian's gaze swept over everyone present, "Could the origin of the moon be the remains of that mythical tiamat?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the conference room fell silent for a moment.

The six of them looked at each other, all gasping in cold air.

This idea was extremely bold, and yet it inexplicably resonated with everyone!

Soon, a young male researcher couldn't help but refute, "But Professor, the mass of the moon doesn't match tiamat. tiamat was the planet with 0.78 to 0.8 times the Earth's mass that we simulated last time, while the moon is only 1/81 of the Earth's mass. That's too much of a difference."

"I know." Professor Zhang Qinian nodded slightly, his gaze becoming deep once again, "But think about another possibility!"

"After tiamat was shattered, most of the fragments slammed into Mars, a small portion was captured by Jupiter, and a small portion escaped. But is it possible that there was a piece large enough that it neither slammed into Mars, nor was captured by Jupiter, nor escaped the Solar System, but was instead flung into the inner part of the Solar System?"

After saying this, he walked to the whiteboard, picked up a pen, and quickly drew a schematic diagram of the early Solar System.

A huge comet, after the explosion, was rushing toward the direction of the sun.

He drew an arrow showing the comet flying toward the sun!

"As you all can see, this fragment flew into the inner Solar System, was later captured by Venus's gravity, and became a satellite of Venus. Then, it's the story Xiao Jiang told tonight: this satellite was flung out by Venus again, and finally captured by Earth, becoming today's moon."

Zhang Lin gasped, "This..."

He had an illusion that for a moment just now, Professor Zhang wasn't a professor, but Xiaoyu's brother!

This vibe wouldn't lie!

At this moment, another female researcher couldn't help but knit her brows, "Then what if this fragment wasn't captured by Venus?"

Professor Zhang Qinian turned around and looked at her, "Then there is a second possibility: the moon was never captured by Venus at all."

"It was itself the product of that great Theia-Earth-Moon collision billions of years ago."

"It's just that the main body that initially collided with Earth to form the moon wasn't the Mars-sized celestial body that mainstream theory talks about, but rather, it was the product of tiamat's remains colliding with our early Earth!"

The words fell.

The conference room was deathly silent.

The six young researchers looked at each other, their faces filled with shock, all gasping in cold air.

"Holy crap!" x6

"Professor!" Zhang Lin couldn't help but swallow hard, "Do you mean that the moon originally came from a... remnant of tiamat?"

Professor Zhang Qinian narrowed his eyes and nodded gently, "Yes, one turned into the Asteroid Belt next to Mars, and the other turned into today's moon."

Just then, the conference room door was pushed open.

Director Wang Weiguo walked in carrying seven cups of coffee.

"Why have you all stopped..." As soon as he finished speaking, he saw everyone staring at Professor Zhang Qinian in unison with expressions of shock, "Ahem, what's wrong?"

Zhang Lin turned his head, his gaze instantly becoming fiery, "Director Wang, Professor Zhang just said that the moon might be a remnant of tiamat."

Upon hearing this, Director Wang Weiguo froze on the spot, even his breathing pausing strangely for a few seconds.

After quickly summarizing the previous paper and the content from earlier this evening, his eyes also lit up as he gasped in cold air,

"W-what?"

He walked quickly to the whiteboard, looked at the sketch Professor Zhang Qinian had drawn, and his eyes grew wider and wider.

"tiamat... Moon... Venus... Earth..." He couldn't help but cover his mouth, his brain spinning rapidly, "If this is the case, then..."

Suddenly, he looked up sharply, his gaze extremely fiery,

"Old Zhang, do you know? This point of view of yours gives me a feeling!"

"It makes me feel like I've touched upon a thought and feeling that has troubled me for a long time!"

Professor Zhang Qinian looked at him, somewhat curious, "What kind of feeling?"

"The origin of the moon really was, from the very beginning, that remnant of tiamat!"

"I don't know why, but the first time I heard this statement, I couldn't refute it."

"Although we are science people, I occasionally trust my intuition, and my intuition just told me, [You, are, right]!"

After he finished speaking, Professor Zhang's mouth twitched, but he soon revealed a smile, "The truth, perhaps, is hard to refute?"

"That's right, that's exactly the feeling!" Director Wang Weiguo excitedly examined the whiteboard back and forth, constantly gasping and muttering to himself, "Interesting, fascinating, great; perhaps this is the truth of the moon's origin!"

The atmosphere of shock and joy brewed for a long time before a young researcher asked in a low voice:

"Then what about tiamat itself?"

Professor Zhang Qinian shrugged, "It shattered; as we said in the previous paper, most of it slammed into Mars's face, a small part was taken by Jupiter, and only this piece was left, wandering in the inner Solar System, eventually becoming our moon."

At this point, he looked up through the floor-to-ceiling window at the bright moon outside, "And what we see every night when we look up is actually a survivor of a tragedy from four billion years ago."

After a long while, Director Wang Weiguo took a deep breath, turned around abruptly, and waved his hand, "This idea is very bold and shocking, but don't just stand there, hurry up!"

"Use this as a reasoning model and test if it's feasible. If it is, we'll publish it in tonight's paper. We won't compete with that group from Huaqing University—Ouyang and Guan Jingming—who just pick up other people's ideas!"

Zhang Lin was stunned for a moment, then was the first to react, grabbing his laptop, "I'll run the orbital simulation of tiamat's disintegrating fragments first!"

Another female researcher shook her head and violently deleted the entire framework of the paper she had just written, "I'll go pull the mass data for the moon and Venus!"

The third male researcher said excitedly: "I'll go check early records of the moon in global mythology to see if there are any extra clues related to tiamat!"

The sound of keyboards rang out again, rising and falling, even denser and more urgent than before.

It was clear that the young people were all extremely excited.