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


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.
The moon's surface has revealed ice deposits in polar craters in the past, but this is the first time that baked-in water samples have been discovered on the moon. The scientists have proposed that the baked-in water was a reaction of the solar winds' protons combined with the oxygen in the moon's dust particles, starting the creation process of hydroxyl, a tracer for water. Stephant and Robert estimate that this lunar water accounts for as much as 85 percent of the moon's surface water.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 years
Speed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study finds
Speed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves baby
speed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beat
speed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
-
Humans heal much slower than other mammals
Speed Read Slower healing may have been an evolutionary trade-off when we shed fur for sweat glands
-
Novel 'bone collector' caterpillar wears its prey
Speed Read Hawaiian scientists discover a carnivorous caterpillar that decorates its shell with the body parts of dead insects
-
Scientists find hint of alien life on distant world
Speed Read NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected a possible signature of life on planet K2-18b
-
Katy Perry, Gayle King visit space on Bezos rocket
Speed Read Six well-known women went into lower orbit for 11 minutes