http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/s ... 00819.html
The moon is shrinking ever so slightly, but there is no cause for alarm, according to a new study that has discovered a clutch of previously unseen faults on the lunar surface from photos taken by a NASA probe.
In all, 14 previously undetected small thrust faults – the physical markers of contraction on the lunar surface– were found to be globally distributed around the moon in thousands of photos returned by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
These fault structures – called lobate scarps – are among the youngest landforms on the moon. Their distribution across the lunar surface (as opposed to regional distribution), suggests that cooling in the moon's interior is the likely cause of the contraction, or shrinkage, said study leader Thomas Watters, a scientist with the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum....
"The surface is pushed together by internal forces," Watters told SPACE.com. "When it breaks, it literally thrusts material upward because the surface is contracting. That contraction, we think, is coming from internal cooling of the moon. We now know that's a global process, so it means the moon is shrinking globally – very likely because it is continuing to cool."
The research is detailed in the Aug. 20 issue of the journal Science.
The moon is shrinking ever so slightly, but there is no cause for alarm, according to a new study that has discovered a clutch of previously unseen faults on the lunar surface from photos taken by a NASA probe.
In all, 14 previously undetected small thrust faults – the physical markers of contraction on the lunar surface– were found to be globally distributed around the moon in thousands of photos returned by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
These fault structures – called lobate scarps – are among the youngest landforms on the moon. Their distribution across the lunar surface (as opposed to regional distribution), suggests that cooling in the moon's interior is the likely cause of the contraction, or shrinkage, said study leader Thomas Watters, a scientist with the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum....
"The surface is pushed together by internal forces," Watters told SPACE.com. "When it breaks, it literally thrusts material upward because the surface is contracting. That contraction, we think, is coming from internal cooling of the moon. We now know that's a global process, so it means the moon is shrinking globally – very likely because it is continuing to cool."
The research is detailed in the Aug. 20 issue of the journal Science.
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