New Study Suggests the Moon Is 100 Million Years Older Than Previously Thought

A latest research printed in Nature means that the Moon may very well be over 100 million years older than estimates primarily based on rocks collected from its floor. The findings suggest that the lunar floor underwent a “remelting” course of 4.35 billion years in the past, resetting the obvious age of lunar rocks. This analysis aligns with simulations of planetary formation, which point out that large collisions able to forming the Moon possible occurred a lot earlier, throughout the first 200 million years of the photo voltaic system’s formation.

Remelting Theory Offers New Insights

According to Francis Nimmo, planetary scientist on the University of California Santa Cruz, who spoke to Space.com, tidal forces exerted by Earth on the early Moon could have brought on widespread upheaval and intense heating. This course of might clarify why lunar rocks seem youthful than the Moon’s precise age. Such remelting occasions, akin to the exercise noticed on Jupiter’s moon Io, would have reshaped the lunar floor and erased early influence basins.

Support from Rare Lunar Minerals

Rare lunar zircon minerals level to the Moon forming round 4.5 billion years in the past, shortly after the photo voltaic system started. This timeline matches dynamic fashions of the early photo voltaic system, which counsel most large our bodies coalesced by 4.4 billion years in the past. However, analyses of Apollo-era lunar samples had beforehand recommended a youthful age of about 4.35 billion years.

China’s Chang’e 6 Mission Could Test Findings

The research’s predictions may very well be verified with lunar samples to be retrieved by China’s upcoming Chang’e 6 mission, set to discover the Moon’s far aspect. Nimmo acknowledged that extra lunar samples could be invaluable for refining these findings. Future simulations are deliberate to evaluate the particular results of tidal heating on lunar geology.

The analysis highlights the interconnectedness of planetary science, offering a bridge between competing hypotheses from geochemistry and orbital dynamics.