{"id":49951,"date":"2024-12-19T15:25:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T15:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought"},"modified":"2024-12-19T15:58:20","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T15:58:20","slug":"moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought","title":{"rendered":"Moon’s age: New study suggests it is older than previously thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>A groundbreaking new study suggests that the Moon may be more than 100 million years older than previously believed, challenging the long-held theory that it formed 4.35 billion years ago when a Mars-sized object collided with early Earth.<\/p>\n

Researchers now estimate the Moon formed approximately 4.51 billion years ago and underwent a dramatic “re-melting” event during its early evolution, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

This process, driven by Earth’s gravitational tugs as the Moon drifted away, super-heated its surface and effectively “reset all the clocks” in lunar rock samples, noted lead author Francis Nimmo, a professor at UC Santa Cruz.<\/p>\n

“So the moon rocks are not telling us when the moon formed, but they are telling us when a later event happened that heated the moon,” Nimmo explained.<\/p>\n

Shedding light on ancient history<\/b><\/p>\n

The findings could reconcile a decades-long debate among scientists about the Moon’s age.<\/p>\n

They may also explain why minerals found in Apollo mission samples, such as zircon, date back 4.5 billion years, which is older than previously assumed formation theories could account for.<\/p>\n

Carsten Munker, a geologist at the University of Cologne who was not involved in the study, described the findings as a significant step forward, NBC News reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“This certainly moves our understanding closer,” he said, noting the importance of refining the timeline of early solar system events to better understand planetary formation.<\/p>\n

Future lunar missions, including NASA\u2019s Artemis and China\u2019s Chang\u2019e 6, are expected to shed more light on the Moon\u2019s ancient history.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. A groundbreaking new study suggests that the Moon may be more than 100 million years older than previously believed, challenging the long-held theory that it formed 4.35 billion years ago when a Mars-sized object collided with early Earth. Researchers now estimate the Moon formed approximately 4.51 billion years ago and underwent a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":49950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[4991,4999,4998,4993,171,1663,4997,4994,245,1696,2097,1773,4996,4992,4995],"class_list":["post-49951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-apollo","tag-artemis-program","tag-carsten-munker","tag-change-6","tag-china","tag-earth","tag-francis-nimmo","tag-journal-nature","tag-lesotho","tag-mars","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-new-study","tag-the-moon","tag-theory"],"yoast_head":"\nMoon's age: New study suggests it is older than previously thought - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A groundbreaking new study suggests that the Moon may be more than 100 million years older than previously believed, cha ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moon's age: New study suggests it is older than previously thought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A groundbreaking new study suggests that the Moon may be more than 100 million years older than previously believed, cha ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-19T15:25:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-19T15:58:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/12\/sm_1734611225.858167.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"486\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Moon’s age: New study suggests it is older than previously thought\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-19T15:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-19T15:58:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought\"},\"wordCount\":283,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2024\/12\/sm_1734611225.858167.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Apollo\",\"Artemis program\",\"Carsten Munker\",\"Chang\u2019e 6\",\"CHINA\",\"Earth\",\"Francis Nimmo\",\"journal Nature\",\"Lesotho\",\"Mars\",\"Moon\",\"NASA\",\"new study\",\"the moon\",\"theory\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moons-age-new-study-suggests-it-is-older-than-previously-thought\",\"name\":\"Moon's age: New study suggests it is older than previously thought - 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