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Moon May Have Once Had Water

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the also-i-may-once-have-had-whisky dept.

Smivs writes "US scientists have found evidence that water was held in the Moon's interior, challenging some elements of the theory of how Earth's satellite formed.The Moon is thought to have been created in a violent collision between Earth and another planet-sized object. Scientists thought the heat from this impact had vaporised all the water. But a new study in Nature magazine shows water was delivered to the lunar surface from the interior in volcanic eruptions three billion years ago. This suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence."

5 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Moon River? by DrLudicrous · · Score: 5, Funny

    Moon River... wider than a mile... I'm crossing you in style some day.

  2. Manifold Space by QuantumG · · Score: 4, Informative

    Stephen Baxter wrote about tapping the water in the Moon in his novel Manifold Space. Apparently the notion of deep wells of water on the Moon has been seriously contemplated by astrophysicists since the early 70s.

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    How we know is more important than what we know.
  3. Old news by Werrismys · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tintin found glaciers on the moon decades ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorers_on_the_Moon

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    'Once scientists, even the dim-witted social scientists, get muzzled, the Western Civilization is finished.' - oldhack
  4. I've cracked it by cupantae · · Score: 5, Funny

    "another planet-sized object"
    Perhaps Xenu's spacecraft was bigger than we imagined.

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  5. Water on Moon and Mars by Bombula · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'm not sure why there's such suprise about discovering water on the Moon, Mars and other bodies in the solar system. Not only are comets and debris certain to have delivered significant quantities to every significant object in the solar system, it seems patently obvious that accretion is not a perfect centrifuge. If it were otherwise, Mercury would be comprised of 100% of one material - say, gold - while earth would be 100% iron or nickel, Mars 100% something else, and so on.

    Since this is not the case, it seems not just obvious but inevitable that virtually all materials be found in some quantity within every signficant body in the solar system.

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    A-Bomb