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The Moon’s Two Sides Look So Different Thanks To 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Physics (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]
Thursday, November 19, 2015 11:50
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“Cheap little rhymes
A cheap little tune
Are sometimes as dangerous
As a sliver of the moon.” -Langston Hughes
4.5 billion years ago, a giant object collided with our proto-Earth, kicking up debris that eventually coalesced into the Moon.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
While the near side contains dark maria and lunar lowlands, the far side is almost exclusive heavily cratered, high-mountainous regions. This was a mystery for a long time, but it appears that heating from the hot, young Earth caused a chemical and crustal difference between the two faces.
Images credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / LRO.
There’s a whole lot we’ve finally learned about our nearest neighbor; come find out the latest here!
Source: http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2015/11/19/the-moons-two-sides-look-so-different-thanks-to-4-5-billion-year-old-physics-synopsis/
