question Italo Richard, Passos, MG
Of regolith, a porous layer of dust between 5 and 10 m thick. Samples brought back by the Apollo missions, between 1969 and 1972, showed that the material is rich in silica, lime, titanium dioxide and oxides of aluminum, iron, magnesium, chromium and sodium. “One explanation for this composition is that the Moon would have been born from the collision of a cosmic object the size of Mars with the Earth”, says Amaury de Almeida, from the Department of Astronomy at USP. «The impact would have ejected part of the Earth’s crust, which would have cooled and coalesced, forming the Moon.» Part of the lunar soil sediments may also originate from the accumulation of solar radiation and volcanic activity, which, although not confirmed, would explain the orange soil in parts of our satellite. Molten rock particles during an eruption 3.6 billion years ago would have cooled rapidly and formed tiny colored grains.
READ TOO
– Why does the Moon have so many craters?
– Why didn’t man go to the moon more?
– What is the blue moon?
– How do the phases of the moon influence the tides?
IMAGE NASA
SOURCES Nasa, Britannica and UFRGS websites