According to the news there is already suggestions
that there might be a water on moon’s surface but now recent findings confirms
it. There is water on lighted part or sunlit part of the moon the new findings
said.
“Past
observations of the moon have suggested that there is water on the surface. New
observations from the SOFIA telescope support those findings.”(Science News)
“NASA’s
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the
first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates
that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to
cold, shadowed places. SOFIA
has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest
craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. Previous
observations of the Moon’s surface detected some form of hydrogen, but were
unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl
(OH). Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412
parts per million – roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water – trapped
in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface. The results are
published in the latest issue of Nature
Astronomy. “We had indications that H2O –
the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,”
said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission
Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now we know it is there. This
discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises
intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.””
(NASA)
“…..the discovery raises new questions
about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar
surface. Water is
a precious resource in deep space and a key ingredient of life as we know it.
Whether the water SOFIA found is easily accessible for use as a resource
remains to be determined.” (NASA)
“Several forces could be at
play in the delivery or creation of this water. Micrometeorites raining down on
the lunar surface, carrying small amounts of water, could deposit the water on
the lunar surface upon impact. Another possibility is there could be a two-step
process whereby the Sun’s solar wind delivers hydrogen to the lunar surface and
causes a chemical reaction with oxygen-bearing minerals in the soil to create
hydroxyl. Meanwhile, radiation from the bombardment of micrometeorites could be
transforming that hydroxyl into water. How the water then gets stored – making it possible to accumulate – also
raises some intriguing questions. The water could be trapped into tiny beadlike
structures in the soil that form out of the high heat created by micrometeorite
impacts. Another possibility is that the water could be hidden between grains
of lunar soil and sheltered from the sunlight – potentially making it a bit
more accessible than water trapped in beadlike structures.” (NASA)
“Lunar
water is water that is present on the Moon.
Diffuse water molecules can persist at the Moon's sunlit surface, as discovered
by NASA's SOFIA observatory in 2020.”
(Wikipedia)
“For years, scientists have worked to uncover the mysteries of water on
the moon. Now two new studies published in Nature Astronomy confirm
that water may be found all over the lunar surface.”(National Geographic)
The main point According to the news,
it is long been suspected that there might be water on the moon but now new
findings confirm that suspicion and confirm that there is water indeed
throughout the moon surface.
image from NASA website |
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