Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

Apollo Astronauts May Have Found The Oldest Earth On The Moon

Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Jan, 2019 03:30 AM

    An international team of scientists led by NASA's Center for Lunar Science and Exploration (CLSE), found evidence that the impact jettisoned material through Earth's primitive atmosphere, into space, where it collided with the surface of the Moon (which was three times closer to Earth than it is now) about 4 billion years ago.


    The rock was subsequently mixed with other lunar surface materials into one sample.


    The 2 gram fragment of rock was composed of quartz, feldspar, and zircon -- all commonly found on Earth and highly unusual on the Moon.


    "It is an extraordinary find that helps paint a better picture of early Earth and the bombardment that modified our planet during the dawn of life," said David A. Kring, Principal Investigator at CLSE.


    It is possible that the sample is not of terrestrial origin, but instead crystallised on the Moon.


    That would, however, require the sample to have formed at tremendous depths, in the lunar mantle, where very different rock compositions are anticipated and in the reducing and higher temperature conditions characteristic of the Moon.


    But chemical analysis of the rock fragment shows it crystallised in a terrestrial-like oxidised system, at terrestrial temperatures, according to research published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.


    Further, the researchers revealed that the rock crystallised about 20 kilometres beneath the Earth's surface 4-4.1 billion years ago. It was then excavated by one or more large impact events and launched into cislunar space.


    Once the sample reached the lunar surface, it was affected by several other impact events, one of which partially melted it 3.9 billion years ago, and which probably buried it beneath the surface.


    The sample is therefore a relic of an intense period of bombardment that shaped the solar system during the first billion years. After that period, the Moon was affected by smaller and less frequent impact events.


    The final impact event to affect this sample occurred about 26 million years ago, when an impacting asteroid hit the Moon, producing the small 340 meter-diameter Cone Crater, and excavating the sample back onto the lunar surface where astronauts collected it almost exactly 48 years ago (January 31-February 6, 1971), Kring explained.

    MORE Interesting ARTICLES

    'Foolish' Man Jumps From 11Th Floor Of Cruise Ship For Instagram Video. He Survives — And Is Banned For Life

    A Washington man jumped from the 11th floor of a cruise ship and straight into the water last week, a video shared on Instagram on Friday shows.

    'Foolish' Man Jumps From 11Th Floor Of Cruise Ship For Instagram Video. He Survives — And Is Banned For Life

    Kentucky Canoe Outfit Borrows Photo Of Trudeau Family To Market Business

    OTTAWA — You might think the last thing you’d stumble onto on a rural road in central Kentucky is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    Kentucky Canoe Outfit Borrows Photo Of Trudeau Family To Market Business

    Viral Tweet Explains The Math To Get More Pizza Per Order

    Contrary to what you might have argued your whole life, mathematics does have a few practical applications as well. It can, for example, help you decide how to get the most pizza for your buck.

    Viral Tweet Explains The Math To Get More Pizza Per Order

    WATCH: When Lions Took Over A Busy Road!

    Shot at the Kruger National Park in South Africa, the video, just half-a-minute long, shows how the four majestic lions haven taken over the busy road.

    WATCH: When Lions Took Over A Busy Road!

    Rs 499 For 100-Gram Donkey Milk Soap At Organic Festival In Chandigarh

    Soaps made of donkey's milk became the star attraction at the sixth edition of 'Women of India Organic Festival' here.  

    Rs 499 For 100-Gram Donkey Milk Soap At Organic Festival In Chandigarh

    Young Professionals Leaving Vancouver Over High Cost Of Housing

    Young Professionals Leaving Vancouver Over High Cost Of Housing
    "It doesn't become cool when you're 37 and have a roommate."

    Young Professionals Leaving Vancouver Over High Cost Of Housing