By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Grand Canyon in Arizona is one of the natural wonders of the land, which has been carved over millions of years through the gradual erosion power of the Colorado River. Near the southern pole of the moon, each of them is comparable to Grand Canyon, who was born in a very different process.
A new research indicates that these grooves, in an area called the Schrödinger Impact Basin on the side of the moon that always faces away from Earth, was dug within less than 10 minutes by Rocky Debris sent violent year.
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This impact launched about 130 times the current global stock of nuclear weapons, according to David Kreng, of the Lunar Institute and the Planetary Institute for Space Research Universities in Houston, the main author of the study published on Tuesday in the Nature Communications magazine.
Scientists have appointed grooves using the data obtained by the NASA sub -subordinate spacecraft, and then used computer modeling to determine the flow trends and the speed of the flying debris. They found that the rubble could have reached about 2200 miles (3600 km) per hour.
One of the valleys, called Vallis Planck, is about 174 miles (280 km) and a deep 2.2 miles (3.5 km). And the other, the Vallis Schrödinger is called about 168 miles (270 km) and a depth of 1.7 miles (2.7 km).
The influence occurred during a period of heavy bombing of the inner solar system by space rocks believed to be removed after a change in the giant planets of the solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – which is believed to have happened at the time.
The object that struck the moon is estimated at about 15 miles (25 km), larger than the asteroid that struck the Earth 66 million years ago and hit dinosaurs.
“When the asteroid or surface comet hit the moon, dug a huge size of the rock that was fired in the space above the moon before it collapsed down. King said:” The younger effect events, which effectively bend in grooves.
Tanks are a straight line scars on the moon, extending out from a large effect hole and round, with a smaller pits of non -relevant effects in the vicinity.
This was one of the last large effects on the surfaces of the moon and the Earth during this bombing period in the early solar system. The moon still carries this scars on its surface while the Earth is not.
This is because the Earth recycles its surface as part of a geological process called tectonic layers. The outer part of our planet consists of rock panels the size of the continent moving very slowly. In the points in which they meet, one plate dives under the other, and a rock was sent on the surface in the depths. The moon, a less dynamically less, lacks layers.
The new results are important to explore the moon in the coming years. The Schrödinger Impact Basin is located near the exploration area of the planned ARTEMIS task in NASA, which aims to place astronauts on the moon for the first time since APOLLO declined in the 1970s.
“Since the debris resulting from the effect of Schrödinger was abandoned away from the lunar southern pole, the old rocks in the polar area will be on the surface or near it, where Artemis astronauts will be able to collect them. Therefore, it will be easier for astronaut : “Collecting samples from the oldest era of the moon’s history.”
Kreng added that these rocks will allow scientists to test the hypothesis that the moon was created when a great influence of the earth collided and sent a molten material into space, as well as the hypothesis that the moon’s surface early was a surrounding magma.
(This story was corrected to say 10 minutes, not 10 seconds, in the title)
(Will Doneham’s reports, edited by Rosalba Operation) participated
