3 Interesting Lunar Discoveries: Moon's Mysteries Unlocked

3 Interesting Lunar Discoveries: Moon's Mysteries Unlocked

India origin researcher and scientist Arpita Roy from the Pennsylvania State University has provided the reasons why no “face” is seen on the far side of earth's moon, following research conducted by a team of which she was also a part. She has discussed how the meteoroids struck out in the far side of the moon and in many cases, the crust being too thick led to the lack of magmatic basalt welling up. This led to the dark side of the moon as a result of valleys, craters and highlands but no maria.

Maria refers to the large salt seas of basalt that is seen as dark. This arises out of a difference in the crustal thickness between the moon's side facing the earth and its hidden side. The mystery of why the moon has no face on its far side has been referred to as the Lunar Farside Highlands Problem. It dates back to the 1950s when Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 provided the first images of the dark side of the moon to the earth.

It is referred to as the dark side because it is unknown. But that no longer is the case following the latest research. Researchers have noted that fewer seas or marias are located on the portion of the moon away from the earth. The findings of this particular study has appeared in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Another crucial research finding has been that the moon was the result of a huge cosmic collision between a Mars sized object and earth some 4.5 billion years ago, as supported by a second conclusive study. Scientists have discovered that the chemical signature of ancient Earth prior to the collision in material separating the molten iron core from the surface crust of the earth.

A separate team of research scientists have found that the chemical signature of the ancient object called Theia within lunar rock samples that Apollo missions brought back 40 years ago.

A second piece of research evidence is the study regarding the unexplained ratios of chemical isotopes in the deep mantle rock that scientists are now citing as the signature of earth prior to its collision with Theia.

The collision has generated enough energy for melting the entire planet. Researchers hold that some of the planet remained solid on the opposite hemisphere while material vapourized on the side of the impact.

The energy released by the impact between the two would have not been evenly distributed throughout the ancient earth, according to Professor Sujoy Mukhopadhyay of Harvard University. According to Mukhopadhyay, this mean the opposite hemisphere would have been shieled an not undergone melting in totality. The isotope rations of the gases differed depending upon whether they emerged from the shallow or deeper mantles of the earth, indicating a different origin.

An analysis of the xenon gas isotopes result from slow reactive decay of iodine gas. This basically indicates that the formation of more ancient parts of the mantle came within the first 100 million years of the earth's formation. This pegs the possible date of the impact with Theia. Computer models suggest that 70 to 90 percent of the material composing the moon originate from Theia with 10 to 30 percent of this being terrestrial debris flung from the earth during the blow of the impact. This provides fresh evidence that the moon formed due to the impact between Theia and earth 4.5 billion years ago.

In another finding, researchers from the University of Lorraine in France have found that an isotopic signal indicates previous age estimates for the moon and the earth are underestimates. The final stage of the formation of planet earth is around 60 million years older than previously discovered. Researchers Guillaume Avice and Bernard Marty also found that the moon forming impact is around 60 million years older than previously thought. They gained this understanding from the analyzed xenon gas found in Australian and South African quartz dating back to 2.7 and 3.4 billion years ago and that dating back to millions of years ago.