The moon is 40 million years older than scientists thought according to new evidence gleaned from crystals brought back from the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts 51 .
The moon is 40 million years older than scientists thought according to new evidence gleaned from crystals on moondust brought back from the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts 51 years ago.
Now said to be at least 4.46 billion years old, the crystals are, say the authors of a new study published today in Geochemical Perspectives Letters, the oldest solids on the moon.
That means they were formed when the moon itself came into being. Exactly when that happened had, until now, been a mystery. However, how the moon formed is generally accepted to be after a “great impact” between Earth and a protoplanet.
