(CNN) – The moon may be 100 million years older than planetary scientists thought.
The moon has long been thought to have formed roughly 4.35 billion years ago after a Mars-sized object collided with Earth and created the moon.
That timeline is based on analysis of lunar rock samples from NASA’s Apollo missions.
New research suggests that the moon formed earlier and that it then experienced a dramatic “re-melting” event at the time other scientists had thought it first formed.
Researchers believe as the moon was moving away from the Earth, Earth’s constant gravitational pull warped the moon in a way that caused it to heat up and melt the moon’s surface, therefore hiding the moon’s real age.
The study was published Wednesday in the journal “Nature.”
NASA’s planned Artemis moon mission and China’s upcoming Chang’e 6 mission could provide better insight into the moon’s history.
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