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The Earth may once have had TWO moons–a smaller one and a larger one–which ended up crashing into each other, producing the single moon we have now. This would explain the mystery of why the near and far sides of the lunar surface are so different.

The near side of the Moon–the one we can see from Earth–is flat and cratered while the rarely-seen far side has tall mountain ranges. The impact would have made the moon lopsided and reoriented it so that one side always faces Earth.

In BBC News, Matt McGrath quotes astronomer Martin Jutzi as saying, "It was a rather gentle collision, slower than the speed of sound–that’s important because it means no huge shocks or melting was produced."
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It now appears that as many a 10% of rocky planets in the universe may have moons like our own. This configuration is essential for the development of higher life forms because the rotating moon retards orbital winds on the dominant planet. Without the influence of the nearby moon, those winds would blow at a continuous speed upwards of 200 MPH. This finding means that there are billions of such planets in our galaxy alone. It completely changes the equation regarding higher life forms, making them statistically much more probable.
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From the moon rocks (the real ones, anyway) that were brought back by various missions, which turned out to be partly material from Earth, our scientists learned that our moon was created when a fast moving space rock knocked off a piece of the Earth and sent it into orbit. Now they think the same process created Mars biggest moon Phobos.
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