While the Moon’s near side and far side display different surfaces, could their interiors differ, as well? This is what a recent study published in Nature Geoscience hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the processes that have resulted in the surface differentiation between the Moon’s near side and far side. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of the Moon, and potentially other planetary bodies throughout the solar system.
For the study, the researchers examined the petrology and geochemistry of samples returned to Earth from the Moon’s far side by the Chinese Chang’e-6 mission. The goal of the study was to compare these samples to the samples returned to Earth from the Moon’s near side by NASA’s Apollo missions and the Chinese Chang’e-5 mission and determine why both sides of the Moon are geologically different.
In the end, the researchers found that the 2.8-billion-year-old samples obtained from the lunar far side revealed that the lunar mantle was approximately 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than their near side counterparts. This was compared with computer models that showed the far side mantle was approximately 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than the near side mantle.
Image of the near side (left) and the far side (right) of the Moon. (Credit: NASA)
“These findings take us a step closer to understanding the two faces of the moon,” said Xuelin Zhu, who is a PhD student at Peking University and a co-author on the study. “They show us that the differences between the near and far side are not only at the surface but go deep into the interior.”
Given the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, one side always faces our planet, which has puzzled scientists regarding its formation and evolution. Therefore, studies like this demonstrate that the Moon’s interior is different on both sides, meaning that its tidally locked nature might have influenced its interior structure.
What new discoveries about the Moon’s far side will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Nature Geoscience, EurekAlert!
