Have you ever wondered where the Moon came from?

Throughout recorded history, there have been four prominent theories describing the Moon’s creation. And thanks to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances last week, we now have the first chemical proof supporting one above all others.

🌕 Background… The three Swiss-cheese theories, aka they’re full of holes, of the Moon’s creation are as follows: capture, accretion, and fission. For brevity’s sake we won’t cover them in-depth, but you can find the ideas – and why they’re probably wrong – here.

The winner winner, chicken dinner goes to #4, the Giant Impact, aka Theia Impact, theory. This one says the Earth collided with another planet about the size of Mars, called Theia, ~4.5 billion years ago. Computer simulations, plus the composition of the Moon being similar to the Earth’s mantle, supported this theory prior to last week – and now we have some more proof.

• Using a noble gas mass spectrometer nicknamed “Tom Dooley” after a Grateful Dead song, the researchers’ studied six lunar samples discovered in Antarctica. In them, they discovered helium and neon, both noble gases found in the Earth’s mantle. The presence of the two is significant, since the samples were unexposed to the Moon’s surface, supporting the idea of a colossal celestial impact.

👀 Looking ahead… The question now seems to be: Where on Earth is Carmen San Diego did the Moon come from?

But all jokes aside, the researchers are hoping their discovery could lead to further study of more than just the Moon. NASA has a collection of ~70,000 approved meteorites sitting in the trophy case, which may be getting dusted off soon (literally😉) in search of further noble gases.

+Dive deeper: What exactly are noble gases?