The Moon’s Two Sides Look So Different Thanks To 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Physics (Synopsis) [Starts With A Bang]

“Cheap little rhymes
A cheap little tune
Are sometimes as dangerous
As a sliver of the moon.” -Langston Hughes

4.5 billion years ago, a giant object collided with our proto-Earth, kicking up debris that eventually coalesced into the Moon.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

While the near side contains dark maria and lunar lowlands, the far side is almost exclusive heavily cratered, high-mountainous regions. This was a mystery for a long time, but it appears that heating from the hot, young Earth caused a chemical and crustal difference between the two faces.

Images credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / LRO.

There’s a whole lot we’ve finally learned about our nearest neighbor; come find out the latest here!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1SIuNuN

“Cheap little rhymes
A cheap little tune
Are sometimes as dangerous
As a sliver of the moon.” -Langston Hughes

4.5 billion years ago, a giant object collided with our proto-Earth, kicking up debris that eventually coalesced into the Moon.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

While the near side contains dark maria and lunar lowlands, the far side is almost exclusive heavily cratered, high-mountainous regions. This was a mystery for a long time, but it appears that heating from the hot, young Earth caused a chemical and crustal difference between the two faces.

Images credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / LRO.

There’s a whole lot we’ve finally learned about our nearest neighbor; come find out the latest here!

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1SIuNuN