A new study of lunar minerals has captured the last stage of the moon solidifying into rock.
A full moon is visible above icebergs in Disko Bay, Greenland. Scientists studying lunar samples brought back during the Apollo program have found that the moon's crust formed at least 40 million years earlier than previously suspected.Half a century has passed since humans set foot on the moon, but the lunar rocks that they gathered are still revealing important information about Earth’s lambent neighbor.
The heat of the impact liquefied everything—the young Earth and the planetary destroyer—fusing the two bodies into one. Out of this mass flew a smaller ball of molten rock, which fell into a stable orbit and eventually cooled to form the moon. The study authors probed the zircons embedded in a lunar rock sample collected during Apollo 17 in 1972, and they constructed a 3D map of the atoms. Tallying the lead isotopes resulted in an age of 4.46 billion years, the oldest age for the lunar crust’s formation yet., but the report drew skepticism. Critics pointed to the fact that lead atoms tend to migrate to form pockets of high or low concentrations throughout the rock.
“It's a very, very nice study,” says Melanie Barboni, a geochemist at Arizona State University who wasn’t involved in the research. Barboni has studied other isotopes in lunar zircons to discover that theBarboni says the new research is compatible with her own findings. “A lot of papers propose that the moon formed much later than that, 4.3 billion years, for example,” she adds. “That clearly is not possible with that data.
While the new study dates the completion of the moon’s formation at a minimum of 4.46 billion years, the entire process, from the planetary collision to the eventual hardening, unfolded over. Zircons represent the final vestiges of the lunar magma ocean—the last chapter of the moon’s violent beginnings and the onset of its more placid epoch.
When Artemis II sends a crew on a lunar flyby next year, the mission won’t just return astronauts to the moon’s surface. It could also begin a new era of space exploration.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The moon is 40 million years older than thought, lunar crystals study suggestsMore than 4 billion years ago, when the solar system was still young and the Earth was still growing, a giant object the size of Mars crashed into the Earth. The biggest piece that broke off of the early Earth formed our moon. But precisely when this happened has remained a mystery.
Read more »
Older family members may be victims of cryptocurrency scamsCrypto Scam Quick Tip: If you have an older family member or friend in your life, you might want to check whether they've fallen victim to a crypto scam.
Read more »
The moon may be 40 million years older than we thought, Apollo 17 samples suggestSharmila is a Seattle-based science journalist. She found her love for astronomy in Carl Sagan's The Pale Blue Dot and has been hooked ever since. She holds an MA in Journalism from Northeastern University and has been a contributing writer for Astronomy Magazine since 2017. Follow her on Twitter at skuthunur.
Read more »
The Moon Is 40 Million Years Older Than Scientists ThoughtBy studying moon dust collected in 1972, scientists have come one step closer to understanding the mysterious origins of our planet's largest satellite.
Read more »
The moon is 40 million years older than thought, ancient crystal suggestsThe moon is even older than scientists realized, according to new studies of crystals brought back from the moon by Apollo astronauts in 1972.
Read more »
Codi Schreck: Are we doing all we can for the older adults in our lives?“We need to do better to promote a culture of respect and dignity for older adults and improve fostering a sense of their worth and value,” writes Codi Schreck.
Read more »