The Earth has a single natural satellite, the moon. Our home planet’s moon is not a typical example of other moons in the solar system. For instance it is considered a much too large satellite for a planet the size of the Earth.

Now there is a theory being put forth by the researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science which suggests that the moon is not the original satellite of Earth. In fact it is the last in a series of satellites that have revolved around the planet.

They propose that originally there were a number of smaller moons, or moonlets if you will, that orbited the Earth. Over the millennia these smaller moonlets began to collide into each other, forming a larger mass. As their orbits crossed, collided and merged the moonlets eventualy took shape of the present day Moon.

Prof. Hagai Perets, of the Technion says that they believe Earth had many previous moons. Prof. Raluca Rufo from Weizmann Institute says that a long series of such moon-moon collisions could gradually build-up a bigger moon – the Moon we see today. Their science project was reported in the publication  Nature Geoscience.