It’s widely believed (in Astronomy circles) that the Moon was once a part of the Earth. Or at least that the material, which the Moon is comprised of came out of the Earth. The basic idea is this: about 4.45 billion years ago, a young planet Earth—only 50 million years old at the time and not completely solid—experienced the largest impact event of its history. Another planetary body, known as Theia, with roughly the mass of Mars had formed nearby with an orbit that placed it on a collision course with Earth. According to NASA, when young Earth and Theia collided, the energy involved was 100 million times larger than the much later event believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. The giant collision destroyed Theia, likely vaporized the upper layers of Earth’s mantle, and ejected large amounts of debris into Earth’s orbit. Our Moon formed from this debris.

APRIL 11, 1968

I HATE THE MOON.

IF THE MOON MUST
BE THERE, LET IT
TURN ON AND OFF AT
ONE-SECOND INTERVALS.

APRIL 12, 1968
OR LET THE MOON
ALWAYS LOOK THE
WAY IT DID IN THE
CENTER OF THE
ECLIPSE, LIKE A BALL
HANGING IN SPACE,

NOT LIKE A FLAT DISC.

I HATE FLATNESS
IT’S NOT JUST SURFACE
ROUNDNESS THAT TURNS
ME ON, IT’S THE FEELING
OF
DENSITY, MASS, WEIGHT.

MAY 1, 1969

FULL PINK MOON
PEACH MOON
ORANGE MOON
FLESH MOON
FIRE MOON
BLOODY MOON

—excerpted from Lee Lozano