Mega crash on the Moon released energy equal to 1,000,000,000,000 atomic bombs
The SPA, the largest and oldest impact structure on the Moon, was formed approximately 4.25 billion years ago by a massive impact. This event is thought to have released energy equivalent to that of a trillion atomic bombs.
The Moon samples arrived on Earth on June 25, 2024. (Photo: CNSA)
Until recently, the impact's effects on lunar geology and thermal evolution remained unsolved, but recent studies have begun to unravel these mysteries.Research conducted over the past year by teams from CAS institutions, including the Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG) and the National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC), has led to four significant discoveries.These findings were published in the journal Nature, marking a major step forward in understanding the lunar landscape. According to Prof. WU Fuyuan, "the geological consequences of the impact that formed the SPA are, for the first time, revealed collectively in these four Nature papers."One key discovery is the evidence of prolonged volcanic activity on the Moon's far side. The analysis identified two distinct volcanic phases occurring 4.2 billion and 2.8 billion years ago.This persistence of volcanic activity for at least 1.4 billion years is far longer than previously believed.Additionally, a fluctuating magnetic field was observed. Measurements revealed a resurgence in the Moon's magnetic field around 2.8 billion years ago, indicating that the lunar dynamo responsible for generating magnetic fields was more active than previously thought, experiencing episodes of fluctuation rather than a steady decline.The samples also highlight an asymmetric water distribution between the Moon's near and far sides.The far side's mantle contains significantly less water, suggesting an uneven distribution of volatile elements within the lunar interior, shedding light on the Moon's compositional diversity. Finally, geochemical analyses of the basalt samples unveiled a mantle source described as "ultra-depleted," pointing to a primordial depleted mantle or massive melt extraction due to large impacts. This insight points to the role of major impacts in shaping the Moon's interior.These findings not only illuminate the evolution of the Moon's far side but also shows the transformative impact of the Chang'e-6 mission, offering a critical reference point for studying early Solar System impacts.- EndsMust Watch
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Time of India
18 hours ago
- Time of India
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Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
Unique space radar will track earth's every shake & shift
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It will be one of the most advanced Earth-observation satellites ever to go up. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Indonesia: Unsold Sofas Prices May Surprise You (Prices May Surprise You) Sofas | Search Ads Search Now Undo Beaming to villages Nisar's launch also comes 50 years after India and US collaborated on a very different kind of project: the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment, or SITE. Launched a month after then PM Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency, SITE began broadcasting on Aug 1, 1975 to community TV sets in 2,400 villages across Karnataka, Rajasthan, Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. It was seen as a mutually beneficial deal for Nasa and Isro. At the time, 40% of India's population was in villages with fewer than 3,000 people, and a quarter were in hamlets with fewer than 200. Traditional infrastructure alone couldn't reach them, but space tech could. 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Economic Times
3 days ago
- Economic Times
The first ancient Egyptian genome is here, and it changes everything we know
A breakthrough Live Events Clues to a life lived in labour (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Scientists have sequenced the first complete genome from ancient Egypt, uncovering surprising genetic ties between the Nile Valley and man, who lived between 4,500 and 4,800 years ago during the era of the earliest pyramids, was discovered in a sealed clay pot near Nuwayrat, south of Cairo. His remains, now kept at Liverpool's World Museum, were unearthed in 1902 but only recently yielded enough DNA for analysis. Genetic analysis indicates he had brown eyes, dark hair, and dark findings, published in Nature, show that around 80 percent of his ancestry came from ancient North Africans, while about 20 percent traced back to West Asia and Mesopotamia( modern‑day Iraq and Iran). Researchers say this provides the first genetic evidence of population movement between these regions, long suspected through archaeological finds.'Piecing together all the clues from this individual's DNA, bones, and teeth has allowed us to build a comprehensive picture,' said Dr Adeline Morez Jacobs, lead author and visiting fellow at Liverpool John Moores University. 'We hope that future DNA samples from ancient Egypt can expand on when precisely this movement from West Asia started.'Egypt's hot climate usually destroys genetic material, frustrating decades of research. Even Nobel laureate Svante Pääbo's early attempts in the 1980s failed. But advances in sequencing technology and the unusual preservation of this man's tooth cementum, a tissue that locks teeth into the jaw, finally made it used a technique called shotgun sequencing, reading every DNA fragment in the sample to reconstruct the genome. 'Our approach means that any future researcher can access the whole genome we published,' said Dr Linus Girdland-Flink of the University of analysis shows the man was just over 5ft tall and aged between 44 and 64, exceptionally old for his time. His skeleton shows that he had arthritis, muscle markings from lifting heavy loads, and pelvic wear from long hours sitting on hard signs, along with the period when pottery wheels arrived in Egypt, suggest he may have been a potter, though his relatively high‑status burial hints at a respected say the discovery marks 'the beginning of writing the genetic history of Egypt', opening the door to further studies on how ancient people moved, mingled, and shaped one of the world's earliest civilizations.
