Violent, Vaporizing Impact May Explain Moon's Mysterious Tilt

The mysterious tilt of the moon's orbit might come from an angled, giant impact that vaporized most of the early Earth, creating the moon in the process, a new study finds. Oddly, the moon's orbit is slightly inclined compared to Earth's orbit around the sun, by about 5 degrees. Until now, scientists could not reconcile the moon's tilt with the leading theory of how the moon formed.