It has finally been revealed that the moon might not be as old as we think it to be. In fact, the age difference between the expected and actual age is not small but 85 million years.
The new fact about the moon's age was established in a recent study conducted by the German Aerospace Center, where the researchers explored the lunar rock samples collected on Apollo missions.
On studying them carefully, it was revealed that while the previously thought age of the formation of the moon due to collision was expected to be 4.51 billion years, it has actually turned out to be 4.425 billion years.
The research was published in the journal Science Advances and calculated how minerals previously formed as the magma cooled and solidified over time.
The co-author of this study from the German Aerospace Center, Sabrina Schwinger mentioned, "By comparing the measured composition of the moon's rocks with the predicted composition of the magma ocean from our model, we were able to trace the evolution of the ocean back to its starting point, the time at which the moon was formed."
While it was earlier believed that the Moon was formed from the debris left after a collision between the Earth and a smaller planet called Theia, the research established that the formation of the Moon took place after the Earth was almost fully created.
Another researcher from the study, Thorsten Kleine believes that this is the first time when someone linked the age of the moon directly to an event that occurred at the very end of the Earth’s formation.
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