The Moon Is Shrinking Like a Wrinkled Apple

astroengine writes "New observations by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have uncovered a number of previously unknown, recently formed 'lobate scarps' — raised cliffs about 9 meters high and several kilometers long — over the lunar surface. These scarps form along thrust faults where compression forces the moon's crust to rise. Up until now it was thought these lobate scarps only occurred around the lunar equator, but the high resolution LRO imagery suggests they are ubiquitous, regardless of latitude. As the moon is geologically inactive, what could be creating these features? It would appear the moon's surface is acting like the skin of an apple surrounding the shrinking, dehydrated flesh of the fruit; the lunar crust (skin) is wrinkling as the body of the moon (the flesh) shrinks due to cooling contraction inside the moon's core."

Comments

Amazing

[Ardeaem]

It's amazing that can happen over the span of just 6,000 years.

Al Gore says..

[al3k]

It's lunar cooling!!

Wrinkled Apple

[Inda]

All this Apple bashing on Slashdot is doing my head in. Can't you just give it a rest for a single day?

I'm so angry. Cancel my subscription. I'm done here.

Re:Tides?

[Peach Rings]

Hur dur, except that's exactly what was surprising about finding the scarping places other than the lunar equator.

Re:Tides?

[osu-neko]

This would reduce the increase in rotation, but to preserve angular momentum it would also have to increase the orbital period - meaning the moon would move to a lower orbit with both its period of orbit and its period of rotation slightly reduced.

You were right before the dash: it will increase the orbital period, not reduce it as you said (contradicting yourself) after the dash. This will push the moon into a higher orbit, not a lower one. And indeed, the moon is moving 38mm further away every year, although this is primarily due to the same effect slowing the Earth's rotation rather than the Moon's.