2023-10-26 08:15:47
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Thanks to the analysis of dust recovered from the surface of the Moon, scientists have a more precise idea of the age of the Earth’s natural satellite. It is higher than what was previously accepted.
Published on 10/26/2023 10:15
Reading time: 2 min The Moon seen from Lisbon, October 24, 2023. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP)
Imagine being told that you are not 45 years old but a few years older. You wouldn’t necessarily be happy, that’s exactly what just happened to the Moon. According to researchers, it is 4.46 billion years old, some 40 million years older than previously thought. This scientific discovery was made possible thanks to dust recovered from the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. It therefore took 50 years of work and studies for researchers to succeed in finding the date of birth of the moon.
Clouds of debris
The Moon was not always there and appeared about 100 million years after the birth of the solar system. The most widely accepted explanation indicates that the Moon was born from the collision of a Mars-sized bolide with the Earth. Clouds of debris then accumulated over millennia until the Moon finally became a natural satellite, just 380,000 kilometers from Earth. It influences calendars and ocean tides.
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Knowing the exact age of the Moon helps scientists trace the sequence of events that occurred at its origins, and learn a lot about what happened on Earth at the same time. The fate of the Moon is inextricably linked to that of the Earth.
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