Rock collected by Apollo 17 astronaut in 1972 reveals moon's age
The HinduDuring the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 - the last time people walked on the moon - U.S. astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan collected about 243 pounds of soil and rock samples that were returned to Earth for further study. A half century later, crystals of the mineral zircon inside a coarse-grained igneous rock fragment collected by Schmitt are giving scientists a deeper understanding about the moon's formation and the precise age of Earth's celestial partner. Chandrayaan-3 | India lights up the dark side of the moon The leading hypothesis for lunar formation is that during the solar system's chaotic early history a Mars-sized object called Theia slammed into primordial Earth. The researchers used a method called atom probe tomography to confirm the age of the oldest-known solids that formed after the giant impact, the zircon crystals inside the fragment of a type of rock called norite collected by Schmitt. "The moon helps stabilize Earth's axis for a stable climate," Zhang added.
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