Study: Most of the moon's water comes from the sun, not comets

Study: Most of the moon's water comes from the sun, not comets
(Image credit: iStock)

A new study has revealed that the majority of the moon's surface water comes from solar winds, rather than from comets or from meteorite impacts, as was previously thought.

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the moon's water was actually "baked" through chemical reactions with solar winds. Researchers Alice Stephant and Francois Robert from the Sorbonne University's Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle analyzed samples of the moon's regolith — a.k.a. pulverized, rocky grains — and found water locked in the samples. They had assumed the rock samples would be dry, since surface water would have been "long lost to space," according to Discovery News.

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Meghan DeMaria

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.