Experts believe that the moon formed when a giant object the size of Mars crashed into the early Earth, knocking off a huge chunk.
The moon is 40 million years older than previously thought, lunar crystals brought back by the Apollo astronauts have now shown.
They discovered that the zircon crystals are 4.46 billion years old, meaning that the moon must be at least that age.“Interestingly, all the oldest minerals found on Earth, Mars and the moon are zircon crystals. Zircon, not diamond, lasts forever,” UCLA planetary scientist and study co-author Bidong Zhang told Reuters.
It means that the Earth and the moon have been locked together for much longer than previously thought – from about 150 million years after the Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago. “The moon is an important partner in our planetary system – it stabilises the Earth’s rotational axis, it’s the reason there are 24 hours in a day, it’s the reason we have tides. Without the moon, life on Earth would look different.”
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