NASA scientists said Wednesday they have unearthed new secrets about the moon.
Specifically, by analyzing gravity data collected from orbital spacecraft, they can better understand the interior of the celestial body.
This analysis found a significant difference between the internal structures on the near and distal sides of the moon. The proximal side has vast plains formed by molten rock, but the distal end is stronger. The moon was once a molten world, with most of its ancient surfaces covered with lava.
Some theories suggest that volcanism two to three billion years ago led to differences within the Earth, which would lead to the accumulation of radioactive elements deep inside the proximal mantle. This study provides the most powerful evidence for the theory.
The artist’s concept shows the moon’s billions of years ago. Now, NASA researchers say they have carefully observed the objects (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
“The flexure of the moon’s near-side is larger than that of the far, which is fundamentally different from the internal structure at the far,” Ryan Park, director of Jet Prosuls Laboratory Solar System Dynamics Group at NASA, explained in a statement. “When we first analyzed the data, we were very surprised by the results we didn’t believe. So we did multiple calculations to verify the results found. Overall, it was a decade of work.”
The results of the study are published in the journal nature.
To draw these conclusions, they developed a new lunar gravity model, which helps to see the changes in gravity as it circumvents our blue marble.
These changes cause the moon to bend due to the Earth’s tidal forces. Just as the moon can determine the trend on Earth, the earth exerts gravity on the moon.
They used data on the Grail Mission’s ebb and the movement of the process spacecraft; it spun the moon in 2011 and 2012.
NASA’s lunar reconnaissance orbital footage captures these views on the moon’s near, left and far side. Data from spacecraft is helping scientists better understand satellites, including Jupiter’s IO (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
With the help of supercomputers, the authors of the study produced what they said is the most detailed map of the lunar gravity to date. Gravity diagram showing gravity measurements on the moon.
Looking at their results and comparing them to other models, Parker’s team found that the small differences in hemispherical deformation were small, but the differences were larger than expected.
In another study, they used the same technique to stare into the interior of Vesta, an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They found that unlike previous theories, Vesta may have small or no core. They recently adopted similar techniques with Jupiter’s volcanic moon IO, revealing that the blazing moon is unlikely to have a global magma ocean.
“Grativity is a unique and fundamental property of a planetary mechanism that can be used to explore its deep interior,” Parker said. “Our technology does not require data from the surface; we just need to track the motion of the spacecraft very accurately in order to have a global perspective on the content inside.”
