The Moon is our closest neighbor in space and the only celestial body (besides Earth) that humans have walked on. Despite these facts, we still don’t know a lot about it, especially when it comes to the ‘dark side’ of the Moon.
Thanks to the Chinese Chang’e-6 probe, however, we are learning important new details.
The probe brought back about two kilograms (4.4 lbs) of material from the far side of the moon and ever since it arrived, scientists have been studying it with great interest.
Material from the far side of the Moon has never been brought back to Earth before, so this is particularly important. One fragment that has been dated was found to be about 4.2 billion years old, making it the oldest part of the moon found so far.
In addition to that fragment, however, the mission brought back 107 fragments of basalt that were confirmed to only be about 2.8 billion years old. They believe this basalt was made from a volcanic eruption that happened in the area at that time.
Prior to this mission, it was not known that the Moon was still volcanically active this recently. The Moon is believed to have already been tidally locked with the Earth at this period in time, so confirming that volcanos were still active is of particular interest.
Papers on these findings have been published in the journal Science and the journal Nature.
The senior author of one of the studies, Professor Yi-Gang Xu is from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry and he put out a statement on the findings in which he said:
“The samples returned by Chang’e-6 provide a best opportunity to investigate the lunar global dichotomy.”
He is talking about the fact that the lunar surface is quite different on the near side compared to the far side. Samples have shown very different elements making up both the surface and the shallow depths where they have been found.
It is not yet known why each side of the Moon is so unique. It could be caused by different meteor impacts or any number of other things. Scientists will need to continue to study samples and propose theories that could explain the dichotomy.
The Moon is a fascinating place.
If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.