A Mysterious Swirl on the Lunar Surface Could Point to Secrets Hidden in the Moon’s History
The Reiner Gamma lunar swirl is sort of an anomaly on the Moon. It was once believed to be a crater, but experts eventually realized it did not cast a shadow. Now experts say it raises questions about the Moon’s magnetic history.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 The Rhiner Gamma lunar swirl is sort of an anomaly on the moon.
00:07 It was once believed to be a crater,
00:09 but experts eventually realized it did not cast a shadow.
00:12 They also began to notice that it actually
00:14 shines in what would otherwise be a relatively dark area
00:17 of the lunar surface, meaning it's likely reflective.
00:20 Reflective lunar material isn't completely novel,
00:22 but it is relatively rare.
00:24 And this material is surrounded by a darker regolith,
00:27 making things even stranger.
00:28 Experts long believed the darker surface material
00:31 is likely a pocket of magnetized rock
00:32 that deflects solar particles shielding it from the sun.
00:35 This could darken the area through chemical reactions,
00:38 sort of like weathering on Earth,
00:39 but without an atmosphere.
00:40 That's the leading theory.
00:42 But to test it, researchers looked
00:43 at more than 60,000 boulders sorted by AI,
00:46 which had similar properties.
00:47 They found that it's possible that instead, there
00:49 may be a thin layer of dust covering these large rocks,
00:52 interacting with magnetic properties in the moon itself.
00:55 They say the dust could have been
00:56 thrown skyward by a meteor or comet impact,
00:59 and then settled after a time.
01:01 They say this could be a clue about the moon's
01:03 magnetic history, something scientists
01:05 have long wondered about.
01:08 (light music)
01:10 (gentle music)