Theia

Theia is a figure in Greek mythology, a Titaness credited with shining light. She is the daughter of Gaia and Uranus and the mother of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn). Theia is associated with bright imagery and was sometimes connected to sight and the sky.

In astronomy, Theia refers to a hypothetical protoplanet that collided with the early Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. The resulting debris coalesced to form the Moon, in what is known as the Giant-Impact Hypothesis. Proponents cite similarities between Earth and Moon rocks, the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system, and the lack of a substantial iron core in the Moon as supportive evidence. The precise details and Theia’s exact composition remain debated.

In software, Eclipse Theia is an open-source framework for building cloud and desktop integrated development environments. Originating from the TypeFox project and now under the Eclipse Foundation, Theia is written in TypeScript and designed to be highly extensible through plugins. It can run in web browsers or as a desktop application and provides a VS Code–like experience, enabling multi-root workspaces and remote development. It has been used as the basis for several cloud IDEs.