Our planet's trusty satellite has been around longer than we previously thought. Scientists analyzed lunar crystals brought back by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, and determined the moon was actually 4.46 billion years old, 40 million years older than previously believed, per a new study published in the journal Geochemical Perspective Letters. “It moves the goal post,” Jennika Greer, who worked on the study, told The Washington Post. “It pushes back the minimum age of the moon formation.”
Researchers studied minerals in lunar dust called zircons, which are “cosmic timepieces that started ticking once that magma ocean cooled and solidified,” per the Post. The zircon pieces analyzed in the study are the oldest to date. However, many were skeptical that the age was accurate, given that these crystals were older than any other samples. “It’s been controversial for the last 50 years, since the 1970s when the astronauts brought back the samples from the moon,” Bidong Zhang, who led the study, told the outlet. “Apollo rocks were very consistent at 4.3 billion years old. That’s why people are like: ‘Why would this age be different?’"
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