Small crystals brought back by Apollo 17 Earth half a century ago has solved many mysteries about the Moon as well as the “attacker” named Theia billions of years ago.
The research team from the University of Glasgow (UK), the Field Museum and Northwestern University (USA) used modern techniques to analyze lunar rock samples brought back to Earth by NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. .
It accidentally revealed that our Moon is older than originally estimated, as well as other details surrounding the collision between the young Earth and a Mars-sized planet called Theia.
The moon is living evidence of the collision between ancient Earth and planet Theia – Photo: SCITECH DAILY
According to SciTech Daily, using modern atomic probe tomography techniques, scientists have determined the age of the oldest zircon crystal in the sample.
That is the “time capsule” of the Thiea event, known only as a hypothesis for a long time.
That theory holds that somewhere around 4.4-4.5 billion years ago, the planet Theia crashed into the young Earth. Materials from the two planets mixed together to form Earth’s materials Nowadays.
Meanwhile, some debris was thrown into space, orbited the Earth and slowly accumulated to form the Moon.
This also explains the fact that the Earth and its only natural satellite have similar compositions.
Previous estimates suggest that the Moon formed about 4.425 billion years ago.
However, zircon crystals can only form when the magma oceans – which are short-lived while the celestial body is still “infant” – cool down.
According to an article published in Geochemical Perspectives Letters, the oldest crystal that Apollo 17 accidentally brought back is up to 4.46 billion years old. This means the Moon must be older than that number.
Scientists believe that about 40 million years older than initial estimates is a reasonable number. This also pushes back the time when Earth and Theia collided by that much older.
As evidence of the Moon’s formation process, these crystals have also become valuable evidence that the unimaginable planetary collision disaster of the young Solar system is not just a hypothesis.
Furthermore, it also marks another great thing: The chance for life to exist on Earth.
Birth of the Moon It is very important for us to have a planet like today. This satellite stabilizes the Earth’s rotation axis, helps a day have 24 hours, and creates tides.
It is possible that Earth would still be capable of giving birth to life without the Moon, but it would be a very different form of life than the world we live in today.