What is it about?
The Moon formed from a collision between a Mars-sized object and Earth, releasing enormous energy and giving the Moon a fiery start. But when did it solidify? New analyses of Apollo-era samples reveal that the Moon became solid 4.43 billion years ago, placing its formation 120 million years after the birth of the solar system.
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Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The Sun and the Moon are among the most significant astronomical objects to humanity. The Moon has inspired mythologies across cultures, plays a crucial role in driving ocean tides, and helps stabilize Earth's climate by limiting variations in its rotation axis. The Apollo missions brought back 382 kg of lunar rocks, yet the precise timing of the Moon's formation and solidification remained unknown. Our new data place tight constraints on this timeline, addressing a central question in planetary science.
Perspectives
As humanity embarks on a new era of planetary exploration, particularly of the lunar surface, our new data will offer crucial context for interpreting analyses of future returned samples.
Nicolas Dauphas
The University of Chicago
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Completion of lunar magma ocean solidification at 4.43 Ga, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2413802121.
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