Exploring the lunar surface has been one of the main interests of astronomers for decades. Data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the Moon since 10 years ago, have been analyzed by scientists.
Therefore, researchers including those from Brown University in the US have been deeply involved in the study of the ice deposits found on the Moon’s south pole. They concluded that some of the deposits might not be billions of years old as the rest.
Most ice deposits are 3.1 billion years old
The study was published in the journal Icarus, and it noted that the majority of ice deposits were found in large craters formed over 3.1 billion years ago.
Also, evidence of frozen water from smaller crates has been found, and scientists concluded that some of the deposits from the south pole got there a lot recently than the rest.
“That was a surprise,” confirmed co-author of the study Ariel Deutsch from Brown University.
“There hadn’t really been any observations of ice in younger cold traps before,” Deutch added.
The ice may have different sources
It seems like humanity still has a lot to learn about the moon, even though we’ve laid foot there since half a century ago, and we kept exploring it until nowadays.
Researchers who studied the ice from moon’s south pole also concluded that the one from the recent craters had been formed due to the bombardment of micrometeorites or impantation by the solar wind.
However, scientists believe the older ice originated from water-bearing comets, and asteroids impacting the surface. Another possibility is the volcanic activity that drew water from deep within the moon.
The researchers added that such extreme phenomenons on the moon had ceased a long time ago; therefore, that’s why they searched for other explanations regarding the newest amounts of ice.
