Scientists are Perplexed by the Recent Discovery on the Moon’s Surface

Since the beginning of time, the Earth’s natural satellite has always captivated the human mind. The moon’s presence at night, how it reflects light, and its shape, mass, and size are all fascinating. 

Scientists have uncovered a hidden element of the moon, and this feature happens to be gigantic and extremely heavy. There is a part of the moon called the South Pole-Aitken Basin.

This massive structure weighs a minimum of 4.8 billion pounds. It is 1,243 miles long and over 186 miles deep. The US-based scientists that discovered the structure asserted that the abnormal structure was possibly made out of metal. 

Scientists don’t have to think too deeply anymore to find out the causes of craters. Craters, which are always formed from impacts on the moon’s surface, come about in three different ways. 

For convincing reasons, scientists have suspected a link between the SPA and the Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO). The LMO is a layer of liquid that is believed to have previously formed the surface of the earth. 

When other elements, mostly metal, combine with oxygen, they form compounds called oxides. Some scientists believe that oxides may have formed while the LMO slowly solidified. 

Peter B. James, an author from Houston’s Baylor University, gave an elaboration on the structure embedded in the moon. He said the metal from the asteroid formed this crater is still deep inside the moon’s mantle.

NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) science mission, which calculates changes in the moon’s gravitational field, made the astonishing discovery. The information this science mission collects can be used to study the inner composition of the celestial body. This particular South Pole-Aitken Basin has been a hotbed for many investigations because of its uniqueness. 

The SPA discovery is a pretty exciting one for scientists who have been eager to unravel the mystery behind the moon. The tide-controlling natural satellite had been covered in so much mystery for many years. 

The SPA isn’t the only crater on the moon. Although none is nearly as big as the SPA, there are thousands of other imprints on the moon’s surface. 

Given its massive size, one could be tempted to think that the SPA could be visible from the Earth. The answer is yes. But for a reason, it isn’t. 

In 2018, the Chinese announced that they would attempt a landing on the moon’s far side. It would be the first-ever landing on that part of the moon. True to their word, a Chinese spacecraft touched down on the “uncharted territory” months later. 

The Chang’4 exploration has been hailed as a huge success. The Chinese National Space Administration made this declaration after confirming the departure of the spacecraft from space. 

The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing has disclosed findings from the Chang’e 4 exploration. Scientists involved in the mission examined samples of the moon’s material. They found particles from the moon’s crust. 

Scientists continue to work tirelessly to extract information from the South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA). One of such is the time of occurrence. Its status as the oldest lunar impact basin is backed by more widely held beliefs. But how old is it?

3.9 billion years ago coincides with the beginning of life on Earth. This is the time after massive debris from the solar system accumulated to form the various planets. 

There is an interesting amount of curiosity around the impacts of these late heavy bombardments on the planet Earth. If the SPA asteroid, one of the many impacts that supposedly occurred during this period was this big, then, there’s a good chance that several of their kind landed on and had similar effects on planet Earth. 

Scientists aren’t ruling out the possibility that the SPA happened before 3.9 billion years ago. If this is the case, then it means that the peak of these planetary bombardments was way earlier than 3.9 billion years. 

The success of scientific discovery around this crater will greatly depend on finding out its age. Regardless of the alterations in radiometric clocks caused by multiple craters in a single location, there seems to be a newfound hope for finding out the crater’s birth date.

The last hasn’t been heard about man’s quest for lunar knowledge. On their part, Chinese scientists continue to examine samples of the SPA crater rocks. According to French Astrophysicist, Patrick Pinet, “It is of the utmost importance to make progress towards unpacking the geology of the lunar far side.”