Researchers say the Moon is 40 million years older than previously estimated
The formation of Earth's natural satellite occurred earlier than commonly believed
A team of scientists scrutinised crystalline samples of lunar rock gathered during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Surprisingly, the Earth’s only natural satellite emerged at least 40 million years earlier than commonly believed.
Contrary to the traditional theory suggesting that the Moon formed around 4.425 billion years ago through a massive celestial collision, scientists analysed the mineral zircon from the Moon’s depths. They discovered that the Moon’s true age is more likely around 4.46 billion years.
Jennika Greer, a cosmochemist at the University of Glasgow, emphasises that the findings do not mean that we now know the age of the Moon and should stop researching.
Although the researchers first presented their findings in 2021, criticism from the scientific community led them to confirm their observations using atom probe tomography. This advanced technique enabled them to map the material’s atoms and determine the Moon’s age more accurately.
