A meteorite that fell from the moon and was found in Africa is a rare volcanic rock dating from a time period in lunar history that scientists know little about.
The 311-gram space rock was discovered in 2023 and is known as the Northwest Africa 16286 meteorite — and based on the decay of the lead isotopes that it contains, its formation has been dated to about 2.35 billion years ago.
Its age and composition show that volcanic activity continued on the moon throughout this timespan, and analysis suggests an ongoing heat-generation process within the moon, potentially from radiogenic elements decaying and producing heat over a long period.
Source: www.space.com
No comments:
Post a Comment