Headlines
Moon is 4.47 bn years old: Scientists
Washington, April 17
Analysis of
meteorites that reached the Earth long after the cosmic collision which
created the Moon indicate the satellite is 4.47 billion years old,
according to an article published in the journal Science.
The
article described the work of a multi-disciplinary team of specialists
from NASA, the University of Arizona and the Institute for the Science
of Exploration Targets, or INET.
Scientists have long known that
the Moon was formed as a result of a collision between a large
proto-planet and the nascent Earth.
But the timing of that event
remains a topic for debate, as scientists continue to argue over the age
of lunar rocks and soil samples brought back to Earth by the Apollo
astronauts.
The team behind the latest research determined that
following the collision, kilometre-sized meteorites struck asteroids in
the main asteroid belt -- between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter -- at
higher than normal speeds.
Subsequent collisions brought
fragments of those meteorites to Earth and those fragments have been
dated to 4.47 billion years ago.
"This research is helping to
refine our time scales for 'what happened when' on other worlds in the
Solar System," INET principal investigator Bill Bottke said.