Something Bizarre Found on the Moon Has Scientists Speechless

 

BIZARRE ACTIVITIES CAUGHT ON THE MOON Even before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the moon, it was a source of inspiration to those who studied, wrote, and dreamed of seeing it up close.

 Since then we have come a long way from knowing very little about the moon to scientists discovering bizarre secrets every passing day.

 Welcome to Science Reads and today let’s count back all the weird but astonishing activities that we have witnessed while observing the moon!

 Moon Slime

 The moon has been an object of intrigue for years now and it’s no wonder why missions and probes are always being carried out on the surface of the Earth's bright Satellite.

 As a part of China’s Chang’e- 4 mission, the rover Yutu-2 ( the follow up that was sent after the original Yutu rover) made a great discovery when it landed on the moon.

 As the rover went around studying the landscape of the moon, it captured many great images through its camera.

 It was mission team member, Yu Tianyi who came across something rather intriguing while checking the images obtained from the rovers main camera.

 At first glance, the images showed what appeared to be a bunch of small craters, but upon closer inspection, they discovered that some of these “craters” were unusual in shape and size and had a peculiar luster to them.

 The material that they found was described as being ‘gel-like’.

 Scientists have since speculated that the material that was found could possibly be ‘impact melt glass’ from a meteorite strike, which is now embedded into the crater.

 Others say it could also be evidence of some ‘volcanic glass’ from an ancient volcanic explosion, both of which have been found on the moon before.

 Sounds like the moon is getting a lot more action than we thought!

 The material and the crater were further examined with the rover’s Visible and Near Infrared Spectrometer instrument by detecting scattered and reflected light.

 Though this has proven to be an exciting new discovery, further studies are being conducted to find out what this substance is and where it originated.

 So for now, the mystery of the moon gel continues.

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 Mysterious Flashes

 Several times a week, short bursts of light can be seen on the surface of the Moon — and so far, astronomers have only been able to guess as to what it is.

 Recently a team of German scientists came up with a new theory, one that could provide critical information for a future moon base.

 “Seismic activities were also observed on the moon,” said Hakan Kayal, professor of space technology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) in Würzburg, Germany.

 “When the surface moves, gases that reflect sunlight could escape from the interior of the moon.

 This would explain the luminous phenomena, some of which last for hours.” These strange flashes were first observed in the 1950s, but have received little attention from the science world.

 But the JMU team wants to change that with their newly built lunar telescope in southern Spain that has already started scanning the night sky.

 It has a dual camera setup that watches for the peculiar light flashes.

 If they both see the same flash, a series of photos and articles is taken.

 But the software for their new telescope still needs a bit of work.

 Kayal and his team are planning to upgrade it with a neural network that can filter out false positives like birds and airplanes.

 Understanding the phenomenon could be paramount to keep human settlers on the Moon safe.

 Kayal went on to say “Anyone who wants to build a lunar base at some point must of course be familiar with the local conditions.” A Lunar Eruption

 You may know who were the first men to set foot on the moon, but do you know who were the last?

 Harrison Schmitt, was the very first geologist to visit the moon, and his partner, Eugene Cernan, was your everyday astronaut and fighter jet pilot.

 The scientific community had long been lobbying to put a geologist on the moon to understand the moon’s land structure.

 Schmitt's findings weren’t disappointing, he found orange soil on the moon’s surface on his very first—and only—trip there.

 During the Apollo 17 mission, when Schmitt walked up to the Taurus-Littrow Valley on the eastern edge of Mare Serenitatis, he scuffed the ground with his boot and made a fascinating discovery.

 In his excitement, he blurred most of the photos he took but his partner, Eugene Cernan, Mr. Steady Hands as he was nicknamed, managed to take a clearer picture.

 Their crewmate, Ron Evans, also documented Schmitt’s discovery from his orbiting spacecraft.

 Schmitt was later quoted that the orange soil doesn’t look as orange in pictures as it did to them when they saw it for the first time.

 The objective of the Apollo 17 mission was simple, to get samples of ancient rocks from the lunar mountainous regions and to look for evidence of young volcanic activity in the adjacent valleys.

 The photographs that were taken during the expedition suggested that volcanic activity might have occurred on Earth’s moon!

 The Shorty Crater was explored further to see if there was a volcanic vent in the region.

 More organic orange soil was discovered near the rim of this crater along with further evidence suggesting that the crater was formed during an explosive volcanic eruption.

 Scientists examined the Apollo 17 orange soil under a microscope and were able to identify it as volcanic glass.

 The samples also contained some black particles that were later found to be ilmenite, a titanium-iron oxide mineral.

 Scientists also realized on further testing that the orange soil was ancient.

 They estimated it to be 3.64 billion years old, which means it came from an old explosion that unearthed molten material which lies about 400 km below the surface of the moon.

 Not only have these eruptions unlocked primordial secrets about the formation of earth and moon, they have created a sight to behold as well.

 In the words of Harrison Schmitt “I don't think that I have told you just how beautiful this valley of Taurus Litro is.

 It is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

 They're brilliantly illuminated by the sun.

 When we were there, the mountains were placed against a blacker than black sky.

 And of course, the Earth is always hanging over the southwestern mountain, South Masif.

 It is truly a magnificent place to be, and I hope that somebody, in the not-too-distant future, will have a chance to see it again.” Jumping Water

 The popular opinion about the Moon is that it is a sad, little cosmic sibling of Earth which is utterly barren and has nothing except ugly craters and fancy lunar rocks to offer.

 However, the Moon does have something we are trying to save down here, water.

 And strangely this lunar water is too excited for its own good.

 It was only 2009 when NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) found that there was frozen water on the moon.

 Even in ice form, water on the moon is a big deal because it not only can be a reserve for drinkable water for astronauts but can also fuel the rockets on their return trip to earth.

 New maps produced by the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) showed that water molecules frozen as ice jump during the day as they warm and cool under the influence of the Sun.

 The moon has a very delicate atmosphere and during its month-long daylight cycle, the ice warms up and melts around midday.

 As the ice melts, it rises into the atmosphere and begins to dance.

 This is until the water meets a cooler part of the moon.

 Resulting in the water gently falling back down on the surface because of the moon's low gravity.

 This revelation made Scientists assume that temperatures on the moon might be cooler than on Pluto!

 Water is found commonly at higher latitudes of the moon and it's a lot more than we estimated, hopping around regularly.

 This process can be roughly described as a lunar water cycle.

 Scientists are studying the process to understand the scope of how much lunar water can be helpful in future moon missions Moon Spies

 It’s been over half a century since NASA astronauts walked the first steps on the moon for the entire human species.

 Yet, there is no lack of conspiracy theories challenging their accomplishment.

 But more interestingly, there’s a conspiracy theory about the Moon being an alien base for keeping watch on humans.

 According to this conspiracy theory, during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronaut Armstrong made an even bolder statement than “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.

 The theory claims that when Apollo 11 reached the surface of the moon, Armstrong expressed astonishment at finding two unknown space crafts already present on the moon's surface.

 Armstrong further described these UFOs as huge and lined up on the far side of the crater’s edge observing the earth.

 The theory originated from NASA’s claim about losing transmission from Apollo 11 for nearly two minutes.

 Did Armstrong really see aliens during those two minutes?

 Seeing Red

 When you think of a blood moon, you might immediately imagine something straight out of mythology or you may have heard of its significance in the Bible.

 Though at first it may appear to be a bit creepy, it is merely a light trick!

 A “blood moon” or red moon happens when the Earth's moon is in a total solar eclipse, leaving the usually whitish coloured satellite with a red or muddy brown hue.

 It’s not easy to see a red moon, especially if the place you live is highly polluted or has high cloud cover.

 But think about what happened in older times when people, who didn’t know why the eclipse was happening, saw a bright red moon in the sky!

 Some ancient cultures saw the red moon and feared it.

 An example of this is when Christopher Columbus and his crew were stranded on a remote island in present-day Jamaica.

 The Arawak tribe were initially welcoming, but after Columbus’ crew began to rob and kill the tribe members, they turned hostile – understandably so!

 Columbus, who realised their lack of cooperation and hostility could lead to famine among the crew, knew when the next lunar eclipse would take place as he had an almanac with him.

 He told the tribe that God was angry that the crew wasn’t receiving any food and that as a sign of his displeasure, the moon will turn red.

 The tribe must’ve thought the gods must be crazy for siding with Columbus, but they gave in when they saw the moon really turn red!

 ————————————————————————————————————————— So what do you think?

 Should we plan a return trip to the moon?

 Let us know in the comments.

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 Thanks for reading, we’ll see ya next time.