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Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on September 24, 2013, 03:36:00 am

Title: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 24, 2013, 03:36:00 am

The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
SPACE.com
by Mike Wall, Senior Writer  14 hours ago


(http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/MdQHDtlpmA4s75h0isCl6g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTM4NztweW9mZj0wO3E9ODU7dz01NzU-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/SPACE.com/The_Moon_Is_100_Million-8099f6d808406a364b78eae49488bdfe)
This artist's conception of a planetary smashup whose debris was spotted by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope


 
The moon is quite a bit younger than scientists had previously believed, new research suggests.

The leading theory of   holds that it was created when a mysterious planet — one the size of Mars or larger — slammed into Earth about 4.56 billion years ago, just after the solar system came together. But new analyses of lunar rocks suggest that the moon, which likely by this monster impact, is actually between 4.4 billion and 4.45 billion years old.

The finding, which would make the moon 100 million years younger than previously thought, could reshape scientists' understanding of the early Earth as well as its natural satellite, researchers said. [ ]

"There are several important implications of this late moon formation that have not yet been worked out," Richard Carlson, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.

"For example, if the Earth was already differentiated prior to  , would the impact have blown off the primordial atmosphere that formed from this earlier epoch of Earth history?" added Carlson, who is presenting the new results Monday (Sept. 23) in London at a meeting organized by the Royal Society called "Origin of the Moon."

Scientists know the solar system's age (4.568 billion years) quite well. And they can pin down the formation times of relatively small bodies such as asteroids precisely, too, by noting when these objects underwent extensive melting — a consequence, in part, of the heat generated by the collision and fusion of these objects' building-block "planetesimals."

For example, analysis of meteorites that came from the asteroid Vesta and eventually rained down on Earth reveals that the 330-mile-wide (530 kilometers) space rock is 4.565 billion years old. Vesta cooled relatively quickly and is too small to have retained enough internal heat to drive further melting or volcanism, Carlson explained.

But it's tougher to nail down the age of larger solar-system bodies, he said.

"Ask the same question of the Earth or moon, and you don't get a very precise answer," Carlson said. "Earth likely took longer to grow to full size compared to a small asteroid like Vesta, and every step in its growth tends to erase, or at least cloud, the memory of earlier events."

Scientists keep getting better and better estimates, however, as they refine their techniques and technology improves. And those estimates are pushing the moon's formation date farther forward in time.

  is thought to have harbored a global ocean of molten rock shortly after its dramatic formation. Currently, the most precisely determined age for the lunar rocks that arose from that ocean is 4.360 billion years, the researchers said.

And here on Earth, scientists have found signs in several locations of a major melting event that occurred around 4.45 billion years ago. So, evidence is building that the catastrophic collision that formed the moon and reshaped Earth occurred around that time, rather than 100 million years or so before, the researchers said.


http://news.yahoo.com/moon-100-million-years-younger-thought-121148745.html (http://news.yahoo.com/moon-100-million-years-younger-thought-121148745.html)

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Valka on September 24, 2013, 03:54:24 am

Interesting, but in the grand scheme of things, 100 million years is really not that much time. It would have been interesting to know what Earth's original atmosphere was like, though, since for a long time it wasn't made of anything we could breathe.

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 24, 2013, 04:07:42 am

I wish they would find out I'm just 18 years younger.  Is that little so much to ask?  I wouldn't want to deal with the pre-30 metabolic balance -my improved patience is precious- but 18 years is nothing on that scale, though I'd still like 'em back.

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: ariete on September 25, 2013, 11:56:10 am

supporters of certain theories hypothesize that it's artificial, or brought from another solar system. sure it's strange that it is the only satellite that don't turns on itself.

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Geo on September 25, 2013, 07:11:39 pm

Quote from: ariete on September 25, 2013, 11:56:10 am

supporters of certain theories hypothesize that it's artificial, or brought from another solar system. sure it's strange that it is the only satellite that don't turns on itself.

The Moon does rotate on itself. It just happens to do that in the same time it orbits the Earth (in this epoch). Same as most (if not all) satellites do around their mother planet.

Quote from: Valka on September 24, 2013, 03:54:24 am

It would have been interesting to know what Earth's original atmosphere was like, though, since for a long time it wasn't made of anything we could breathe.

Most likely it was what is called a primordial atmosphere (http://www.physics.isu.edu/weather/kmdbbd/notesc1.pdf). And only after life 'erupted' on Earth oxygen entered the game.

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 25, 2013, 07:15:23 pm

Quote from: Geo on September 25, 2013, 07:11:39 pm

Most likely it was what is called a primordial atmosphere (http://www.physics.isu.edu/weather/kmdbbd/notesc1.pdf). And only after life 'erupted' on Earth oxygen entered the game.

See The Green Plague by Larry Niven.

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Valka on September 25, 2013, 09:27:48 pm

Planet-building can be a painful process...

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Geo on September 26, 2013, 11:27:18 am

And the proto moon didn't even say sorry.  :mad:

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Valka on September 26, 2013, 03:36:37 pm

It surprised me to see how many people at ICHC have already faved this one, when they don't even know what it's supposed to be about...  :scratch:

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Geo on September 26, 2013, 04:39:25 pm

The kick of seeing a catastrophe happen?

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Valka on September 26, 2013, 06:50:13 pm

Well, I did do a similar lolpic of Jupiter getting hit by a comet/meteor. Jupiter was a bit pissed off, too...

Title: Re: The Moon Is 100 Million Years Younger Than Thought
Post by: Geo on September 26, 2013, 07:40:08 pm

Quote from: Valka on September 26, 2013, 06:50:13 pm

... Jupiter was a bit pissed off, too...

Levy the Shoemakers! ;lol