Initial Temperature Distribution in the Moon

The thermal effect of the collision of two large earth satellites concluding with their merging into one body with the mass of the moon is discussed. It is shown that the energy losses to destruction and cooling in the course of collision can be neglected; energy is expended directly on the heating of the entire mass and its dispersion out to a finite radius, which is estimated for the case of spherically symmetric and uniform expansion of fragments. It is shown that most of the heat released during the return fall of material onto the surface of the merged body is concentrated in its surface layer. The regions of values of the parameters are found for which the temperature reaches the melting point of the rock in the outer 200-km layer of the moon while it remains considerably lower in the deeper sections.