New research published in Science by researchers from Brown University says that the water of the moon from earth. Furthermore, their study could rethink new hypotheses about how it was the origin of the moon.
Four years ago, scientists made a discovery that left us open-mouthed. The moon had water .
Soon after, the Indian probe Chandrayaan-I not only confirmed the existence of water in the moon, but also made the first estimates of what the total amount is. The researchers confirmed that there were about 600 million tons of water ice in total in their estimation. That is, there was water on our natural satellite, but also exist in abundance.
But where did all the water came from the moon? What was its origin? Researchers at Brown University have published in the journal Science an article affirming the possibility that the source of water of the Moon, probably , is on Earth.
For this study, the team of scientists led by Alberto Saal, analyzed the isotopic composition of hydrogen in water embedded in the tiny bubbles present in the lunar rocks (obtained in the age of the Apollo program). Specifically, the researchers looked at the proportion of deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen, as previously knew this varied depending on the location of the solar system were formed where water molecules.
Until now, many scientists thought that the moon water came from comets, but for this, the deuterium found should be high. However, and surprise, it was not. Then? Where does the water from the moon? The results found by Saal and his colleagues suggest that it is likely that the origin was in our planet.
But how water went from Earth to the moon? For now, all are hypotheses . The discovery of the origin of water in the Moon, however, would rethink that existed even ideas about the formation of the moon. The simplest possibility would be a massive collision between our young planet and what would have caused the Moon Mars some 4.5 billion years ago, so that the water had transferred with some solid material that would later become part the satellite.
However, based on our current knowledge, this is not possible, since the high temperatures produced during the collisions all the water had evaporated so that space would in its gaseous state. Perhaps, according to speculations Saal team, the incipient Moon could have taken some of that warm atmosphere earth, so that the water had passed its gaseous form, but then, after cooling the satellite, would be part of the moon itself. Another possibility is that the water was embedded in the solid material of the Earth that is lifted off of our planet to give rise to the moon, and later, the water was released on TV.
This study is certainly a new bombshell in space research , which binds to the discovery made ??in previous years. Not knowing that there is only water, but how much and where it comes, we can build makes the puzzle a little history of the Universe.
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