New research suggests the moon's surface is much older than previously thought.
Scientists believe the moon was formed over 4 billion years ago after
a collision sent material from the earth into the planet's orbit.
But scientists recently took a closer look at
a crystal from the moon's surface brought back by
Apollo 17 astronauts and they found the moon is
40 million years older than we previously thought.
The scientist listed an atomic analysis of lunar zircon
crystals.
They found that while the majority of maternal material
from the moon's surface is 4.3 billion years old,
some rocks were as old as 4.46 billion years old.
The scientists cautioned that while they can't confirm
exactly what that means about the moon's origin,
it shows there is still a lot to learn about our very own cosmic backyard.