A space detective called Lunar Orbiter Recognition has been orbiting the Moon since 2009, gathering clues about its formation. And just like the best detective stories, it has just made an unexpected discovery: a truly enormous and unusually shaped lunar crater that may hold the secrets of our satellite's origins.
Lunar Crater: A Cold Case to Solve
Il Lunar Orbiter Recognition of NASA, as mentioned, has been doing its job for almost 15 years, photographing and mapping every inch of the lunar surface. It's like having a tireless space photographer who doesn't miss a single detail. Scientists have focused their attention on more than 200 mountain formations around a huge basin. They thought they were finding the remains of an old lunar crater, but what they found was much more interesting. The shape they reconstructed was surprisingly circular, almost perfect. As if someone had used a giant compass on the lunar surface.
The impact that made the difference
A rounder, more circular shape indicates that an object hit the Moon's surface at a more vertical angle, perhaps similar to when a rock falls to Earth.
How do you explain bernhardt, one of the authors of the study, the circularity of the lunar crater suggests that the object that created it fell almost vertically, as if we dropped a stone upright on the ground. On Earth, evidence of ancient impacts is erased by erosion and weathering. The Moon, on the other hand, is like an open-air museum: everything that happened millions of years ago is still there, perfectly preserved.
This particular impact, however, did something special: it brought to the surface materials that are normally found only deep in the lunar crust.
A hidden treasure for astronauts
The uniform distribution of the impact debris means that the mission's astronauts Artemis could have access to unique materials, normally buried in the lunar mantle or crust. It is as if we have found a natural time capsule, full of clues about the origins of our satellite. These materials could help us understand how the Moon was formed, a question that is still debated. The leading hypothesis is still that the Moon formed from a piece of Earth that broke off after a giant impact, but there are also other interesting theories in the field.
Lunar Crater: A Gravitational Signature
Gravity measurements around the lunar crater revealed another surprise: the lunar crust beneath the basin is much denser than the surrounding areas. A possible explanation? There could be a piece of the asteroid still buried down there. Like a space fossil waiting to be studied.
This discovery could really change the way we see the formation of our satellite. The research was published in the journal Earth & Planetary Science Letters (I link it to you here).
