How Old Is the Moon? Shedding Light on the Age of Earth's Natural Satellite

Researchers have discovered that the Moon's age is actually 85 million years younger compared to earlier estimates.

How Old Is The Moon?

Long-standing estimates have held that the Moon formed around 4.51 billion years ago after an object as big as Mars smashed into the Earth. During this time, the Earth's guts was starting to have its own shape.

Because of the collision, a chunk of the planet's mantle was torn and brought into orbit. It then became a huge ring of rock and dust that started claiming with each other. Doris Breuer, a planetary scientist from the German Aerospace Center, explains that the formation of the Moon was quite short and that it may have just taken a few thousand years for it to form.

However, back in 2020, scientists from the University of Münster and the German Aerospace Center revealed new Moon age estimates. Their models showed that this figure is 85 million years younger compared to what was previously thought.

According to the study, the team revealed that the collision took place roughly 4.425 billion years ago for around more or less 25 million years. After the impact, the Moon appeared like the molten marble Mustafar that had a furying magma ocean that went as deep as 965 kilometers or 600 miles.

Taking A Deeper Look Into the Moon's Age

The researchers made use of computer simulations to examine the exact time it would take the magma of the Moon to become solid. This would aid them in pinpointing the Moon's exact age.

Based on their models, it took around 150 to 200 years for the magma to crystallize entirely, as opposed to earlier models that proposed that it took just 35 million years for the rocky and hard lunar exterior to come to be.

As such, the collision impacts also kickstarted the planet's core formation. Elements that were heavier, such as iron and nickel, sank towards the center of the planet, while a silicate rock layer formed the surrounding mantle layer.

Thorsten Kleine from the University of Münster explains that this is the first time that the Moon's Age got directly linked to an event that took place towards the end of the formation of the Earth.

The Moon: Earth's Only Natural Satellite

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth and is considered the solar system's fifth largest moon among over 200 moons in the entire solar system. It is also the only place, aside from Earth, where humans were able to successfully set foot on.

This natural satellite is the largest and brightest object that can be adorned in the night sky. It plays a role in making Earth more livable by moderating the wobble of the Earth on its axis. This, in turn, results in climates that are relatively more stable.

It has been widely referred to as "the Moon" due to how the existence of other moons was not clear to humanity until the 1610 discovery of Galileo Galilei. The scientists found out that there were four moons orbiting Jupiter.

At present, there are three robotic spacecraft that NASA has dedicated to lunar exploration. These are the twin ARTEMIS spacecraft, which is different from the novel Artemis program of NASA, and the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter.

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