277: Chapter 277: Two Papers Ignite a Nationwide Craze in Universities (3rd Update)

"Damn!"

Guan Jingming looked at the results in astonishment, unable to help his Adam's apple bobbing.

He hadn't expected success at all; he had just wanted to give it a try. Who would have thought that this very night, they would solve an astronomical problem!

Professor Wu, who had been sitting on the floor, instantly sobered up, got up, and rushed to the computer. "Let me see!"

Ouyang Baili also stood up, walked to the computer, and stared intently at the data on the screen.

"The binary star orbiting phase lasted for about 800 years," Li Mo said, pointing at the timeline on the screen to explain. "Then the Moon gradually escaped Venus's gravity and was finally completely captured by Earth."

"The parameter conditions were: the distance between Earth and Venus at that time was only 18 million kilometers, the Moon's initial velocity was 13.7 km/s, the angle of incidence was 26.5 degrees, and it happened to pass near the L1 Lagrange point."

Guan Jingming couldn't help but gasp. "Such precise conditions?"

Li Mo took a deep breath and nodded gently. "Extremely harsh; if it were off by even one degree, one second, or one kilometer, it would have been impossible to succeed."

He turned to look at the three of them. "But theoretically, it's not absurd; on the contrary, it could indeed be true. The Solar System, the Milky Way, there are countless wonders in the universe; having this appear isn't particularly miraculous."

Ouyang Baili was silent for a few seconds, his lips curling slightly upward. "Write the paper. Quickly."

Li Mo typed rapidly on the keyboard. "I've already thought of the title: Binary Star Capture, An In-depth Investigation into a New Mechanism for the Origin of the Moon!"

Guan Jingming said, "Not bad. The core is the binary star orbiting phase, which can just happen to explain the records of double moons in global mythology; if the Moon was locked by two planets at the same time, what the ancients saw were two moons orbiting each other in the night sky."

"Author list: J, Ouyang Baili, Guan Jingming, Li Mo, Professor Wu Ming."

He looked at Ouyang Baili and Professor Guan. "Teachers, is this okay?"

Ouyang Baili shook his head gently and rolled his eyes at Professor Wu Ming. "No problem, it's just a bit reluctant to let someone who's just tagging along be on the paper."

Professor Wu Ming heard this and was between laughter and tears. "I provided the idea at least, okay?"

"What idea?" The two turned back to look at Professor Wu.

Professor Wu stammered, "This... I provided... the Excel document."

"!!!"

Li Mo grinned, ignored the bickering of the three old friends, and uploaded it directly to the Arxiv website.

After the paper was uploaded, he habitually refreshed it.

Then...

He looked confused. "Three teachers!"

Ouyang Baili looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Li Mo pointed to the paper on the homepage of the screen. "The National Research Institute has already published one!"

Guan Jingming leaned over and asked, "What is the content? Is it also binary star orbiting?"

Li Mo shook his head, quickly clicked on that paper, and browsed through it. "No, they published one about the Moon originating from tiamat!"

The living room was quiet for a few seconds. Professor Wu looked surprised. "tiamat? Isn't that the hypothetical planet Jiang Zhe mentioned in his last live stream?"

Guan Jingming leaned close to the computer, browsing the abstract of that paper.

"They simulated that after tiamat shattered, a fragment was flung out by Jupiter, wandered in the Kuiper Belt for 500 million years, was captured by Venus for 300 million years, and finally grazed Earth to form the Moon."

When Old Guan read to 74%, he instantly gasped. "The probability reached a staggering 74%!"

Ouyang Baili was silent. Why didn't we think of this?

Li Mo asked in a low voice, "Professor Ouyang, are we still publishing our paper?"

Ouyang Baili laughed on the spot. "Publish! Why not? They are researching the prequel of the Moon, we are researching the middle chapter of the Moon; the two clues, when pieced together, are the complete truth."

"Also, add a sentence in the remarks: Thanks to the colleagues at the National Research Institute for their simultaneous exploration."

"Science is like this, chasing each other, only then can we approach the truth."

Li Mo nodded and quickly modified the remarks.

As time passed, it was six in the morning.

On the Arxiv website, two papers on the origin of the Moon appeared side by side.

One was from the National Astronomical Observatory, talking about the Moon originating from tiamat.

The other was from the Department of Physics at Huaqing University, talking about the binary star orbiting phase where the Moon was captured by binary stars.

In the author column, both had the same name: J!

...

Seven in the morning.

At a university in Kyoto, in the physics department office.

Just past the morning rush hour, people were entering the office one after another.

Milk was heating in the microwave, and the coffee machine was gurgling and steaming.

Several professors who arrived early were napping on their desks; it was almost impossible to get a normal sleep in a university.

They had stayed up all night running data, and their eyelids were too heavy to lift.

A middle-aged professor with glasses rubbed his eyes, turned on his computer, habitually refreshed Arxiv, and then froze on the spot. "Damn!"

A colleague next to him who was eating a steamed bun was startled by him. "What's wrong?"

"Old Wu, look at Arxiv!" The professor's expression was extremely horrified.

The colleague leaned over, staring at the titles of the two papers on the screen.

"A New Exploration of the Moon's Origin: Numerical Simulation Verification of the tiamat Debris Hypothesis!"

"Binary Star Capture: An In-depth Investigation into a New Mechanism for the Moon's Origin!"

In the author column, both had a common name: J.

"This, isn't this J who has been very popular recently, the J who is a postdoc!" The middle-aged professor was stunned, his expression becoming increasingly strange.

No matter how strong, how could a groundbreaking paper be born in a day or two?

Does he have no limits?

"Yes!" The bespectacled professor stood up abruptly and called out to the other colleagues. "The National Research Institute and Huaqing University published papers at the same time; they verified J's hypothesis!"

As soon as he spoke, the office exploded instantly.

"Let me see!"

"tiamat debris, is that the hypothetical planet that exploded last time?"

"Can the planet calculated by Formula A really exist?"

"Mathematics won't lie; maybe it really exists!"

"Binary star capture, was the Moon once locked by two planets?"

"74% probability, this is higher than any mainstream hypothesis!"

The bespectacled professor had already taken out his phone and started typing frantically. "Guys, look at these two papers!"

...

Seven-twenty.

In a university in Shanghai, in the astronomy department teaching and research office.

An old professor with gray hair had just brewed tea and was preparing to look through today's Arxiv updates.

His phone suddenly vibrated. He glanced at it; it was a message from his former student in Kyoto.

[Professor Zhang, look at this quickly; the National Research Institute and Huaqing University published papers at the same time. The early and middle stages of the Moon's origin, mainly again by the mysterious J!]

Professor Zhang clicked on the link with curiosity.

Five minutes later, he said, "Damn it!"

He clicked on the second link, and another five minutes later.

"Damn it!"

Then he slowly lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and started typing.

[Saw it, 74% probability, 800 years of binary star orbiting, all inspired by J. This young man is too terrifying; almost every day there are groundbreaking ideas and papers published. Sooner or later, our scientific research world will be pierced through by him!]

Sent.

Then he opened his address book and found another name, the head of the astronomy department at a university in Guangzhou.

[Old Li, sending you a link; the famous J has been verified by the National Research Institute and Huaqing University again. Take a look.]

...

Seven-thirty.

At a university in Guangzhou, in the astronomy department office.

Director Li, who was somewhat fat, had just walked into the office when he saw an unread message on his phone.

He clicked on the link sent by his old colleague, then clicked on the link again.

Then he stood at his desk and stared at it for twenty-five minutes without moving.

A student passing by poked his head in curiously. "Director Li, are your hemorrhoids acting up?"

Director Li's mood, which had just been brewing, was instantly interrupted by this sentence. He rolled his eyes at the young man. "Go call everyone in the teaching and research office; there's big news."

...

Eight o'clock.

The news began to spread across universities nationwide.

From Kyoto to Shanghai, Shanghai to Guangzhou, Guangzhou to Jiangcheng, Jiangcheng to Rongcheng...

Every professor and researcher who received the news had the same first reaction: stunned. Then they started frantically flipping through the papers, and then started forwarding them to the next person.

For a time, these two papers and the famous J spread virally again in the astronomy, physics, and mathematics offices of major universities across the country. Most people were discussing the same topic.

"Have you seen Arxiv?"

"Seen it, seen it, 74%!"

"The parameters for the binary star capture are too harsh; being off by a little bit wouldn't work. Huaqing verified the follow-up of Professor Zhang Qinian's team; Professor Zhang Qinian independently proposed that the Moon came from tiamat."

"Regardless, they simulated it!"

"The J in the remarks, is he a young man or... what is the background of that person?"

"I heard he's a postdoc, finished it online in a day, very awesome; usually at home tutoring his sister."

"Tutoring, and then tutored out two earth-shattering papers??"

...

Nine o'clock.

Kyoto, Earth-Moon Research Institute.

This was an inconspicuous five-story building, located in a forest in the north.

Their responsibilities were different from other research institutes; they had fewer people but more equipment. They were mainly responsible for first-hand information about the Moon and data analysis of the Chang'e series returns.

For example, they were the ones operating the provision of meteorites from the far side of the Moon to foreign teams; they were not directly managed by the National Research Institute.

Their brand-new building had no sign at the entrance, only a few hidden surveillance cameras, which also incidentally monitored poachers nearby.

In any case, every paper that came out of here could shake the global Earth-Moon academic community.

On the third floor, in an office piled with data.

A 60-year-old man with gray hair was leaning on a recliner, closing his eyes to rest.

He was Chen Yuanshan, a veteran of the Earth-Moon Research Institute, who had studied lunar geology for forty-three years and was known in the industry as the "Living Dictionary of the Moon."

In this world, the concept of [Moon Flash], where the Moon would emit red flashes from time to time, was discovered and proposed by him.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open.

A young researcher poked her head in. "Teacher Chen, have you seen Arxiv?"

Chen Yuanshan opened his eyes and said unhurriedly, "Just woke up, haven't had the chance yet."

"You have to see it." The young female researcher walked in and handed the tablet to him. "Two papers, published by the National Research Institute and Huaqing University at the same time, both about the origin of the Moon."

Chen Yuanshan took the tablet and put on his reading glasses.

Five minutes later, he sat up straight.

Ten minutes later, he stood up, looking blank.

Twenty-five minutes later, he turned around and looked at the young female researcher with a solemn expression. "Who is J?"

The female researcher briefly explained J to Old Chen, and Old Chen looked curious. "Such a talented young man, it seems his shadow has been in those few papers before."

"tiamat debris, binary star capture, all came from him." He muttered, "These two hypotheses, if pieced together!"

Thinking of this, he walked quickly back to his desk, picked up a pen, and drew quickly on a piece of scratch paper.

"tiamat shattered, fragments were flung out by Jupiter, wandered in the Kuiper Belt for 500 million years, were captured by Venus for 300 million years, and then grazed Earth to form the Moon—this is the one from the National Research Institute."

He drew another circle and the center of mass of Earth, Venus, and the Moon, rotating around the binary stars.

"The Moon's binary star orbiting phase lasted 800 years, the Moon was locked by both Earth and Venus, this is the one from Huaqing."

"These two hypotheses do not conflict; they are the previous and subsequent chapters of one story."

The young female researcher's beautiful eyes sparkled. "So, Teacher Chen, how do you see the true origin of the Moon?"

Chen Yuanshan did not respond, just stared at the scratch paper, silent for a long time, before slowly speaking:

"Four billion years ago, there was a planet in the Solar System called tiamat; it was smashed."

"Most of the fragments smashed into Mars, and some were taken by Jupiter. One piece remained, drifting in the Solar System for a long time."

"This fragment was later captured by Venus and became a satellite of Venus; after another few hundred million years, it was flung out, locked by both Earth and Venus at the same time, and danced in the sky for 800 years."

"Finally, it grazed Earth, collided with Earth, and the splashed fragments re-aggregated to become today's Moon."

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but laugh.

"The moon we look up at every night turns out to be just a survivor of a tragedy many billions of years ago."

The young female researcher listened, dumbfounded. Shouldn't Professor Chen say something? Did he just accept it?

"Teacher Chen, this hypothesis?"

Chen Yuanshan showed a smile. "Two papers, 74% probability, every step has been simulated; this is no longer a hypothesis."

"It is the truth."

...

As time passed, it was noon.

The news was still spreading frantically, from leaders to ordinary people, everyone knew the news.

Especially Wang Shulin of the Dougou Platform, who spent money frantically to promote it, making J's name even more famous today!

From universities to research institutes, from research institutes to academic societies, from academic societies to more distant corners.

Some were excited, some were skeptical, some were silent, and some, after learning the truth, finally let out a sigh of relief before leaving.

Regardless, everyone knew one thing; this thing was that a 25-year-old young man named J, or surnamed Jiang, tutored his sister in one night, making most people in national universities, institutions, and research institutes feel scalp-numb!