Here’s a wild one: scientists found out that the Moon is rusting! Rust usually happens when metal reacts with water and oxygen, but the Moon doesn’t have much of either. So, how’s this happening? Turns out, tiny amounts of oxygen from Earth’s atmosphere are traveling to the Moon, thanks to solar wind. Combine that with a bit of water from ice trapped in Moon rocks, and voilà—rust starts forming! It’s super weird because the Moon is supposed to be too dry and airless for this. This bizarre discovery just shows how Earth and the Moon are connected in unexpected ways! Credit:
Moon Mineralogy Mapper: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12245106
FiveStarShawki / Reddit
Gordopolis_II / Reddit
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Moon Mineralogy Mapper: By NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12245106
FiveStarShawki / Reddit
Gordopolis_II / Reddit
Animation is created by Bright Side.
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FunTranscript
00:00The Moon is rusting, and chances are it's happening because of Earth.
00:05You'd say that since they're more than 230,000 miles apart,
00:09they can hardly directly influence each other in such a way,
00:13but they do actually have a special connection.
00:17The Moon affects our home planet as well,
00:20and you can see it while observing ocean tides.
00:23As Earth rotates, the Moon's gravitational force
00:26pulls the water on the nearest side of Earth.
00:29It creates a bulge.
00:31At the same time, another bulge forms on the opposite side
00:35because our planet rotates and it causes a centrifugal force.
00:39And then, the planet continues to rotate underneath these bulges,
00:44which is why we have two low and two high tides every day.
00:49Plus, the Moon wobbles every now and then,
00:52tilts more or less, and causes changes in ocean tides.
00:56And in return, Earth's atmosphere is making our satellite rusty.
01:01Rust is that reddish substance you see on old gates or nails.
01:05Oh, and you know Vermilion Cliffs and the Grand Canyon?
01:08They also have that specific red color thanks to rusty iron in the rocks.
01:14It forms when iron reacts with oxygen and water.
01:18Rust is common even on Mars.
01:20The planet's trademark color comes from the rust
01:23that's been there for a very long time.
01:25That's how the red planet got its nickname in the first place.
01:28Normally, you wouldn't say the Moon is a place that would rust that easily
01:32since it's dry and doesn't really have an atmosphere.
01:35But a spacecraft studied the Moon back in 2008
01:39and detected spectra, wavelengths of light,
01:42that were reflecting off different surfaces of the Moon.
01:45That's why it could analyze the lunar surface better.
01:48The data it brought showed that the lunar poles
01:51had different compositions than the rest of the Moon.
01:54They had rocks that contained a lot of hematite.
01:58That's a specific type of iron oxide, or simply rust.
02:03No one expected that because there shouldn't be so much rust on the Moon
02:07considering the conditions there.
02:09But we know that there's some water up there on the surface of our satellite.
02:14That's why a few new theories popped out
02:16about different materials the Moon could be hiding.
02:19It's possible that they formed because water had reacted with the rocks.
02:24For iron to get this rusty hue, it needs something we call an oxidizer.
02:29That's a molecule that removes electrons from materials like iron, such as oxygen.
02:34But the solar wind keeps hitting the Moon all the time,
02:38and it brings hydrogen with it.
02:40And hydrogen has the opposite effect.
02:43It gives electrons to other molecules.
02:45Earth has its shield from the solar wind.
02:49But the Moon doesn't have such protection,
02:51and because of that, rust shouldn't be able to form on its surface.
02:55But this process still happens, and it could be Earth's fault.
03:00The Moon itself doesn't have an atmosphere
03:03that could provide enough oxygen for iron to rust.
03:06But apparently, our planet is generous enough
03:09to donate some of its own atmosphere.
03:12The oxygen from our atmosphere travels all the way to the Moon
03:16following something called magnetotail.
03:19That's a long extension of Earth's magnetic field,
03:22which can reach the near side of the Moon.
03:25That's exactly where most of the hematite was found.
03:29And during a full Moon, the magnetotail blocks 99% of the solar wind,
03:34which would normally influence the Moon more.
03:37It's like there's a temporary curtain over its surface,
03:40which gives enough time for rust to form.
03:43But there's still one important thing necessary for the appearance of rust.
03:47Water.
03:49It's not like you can find water that easily
03:51if you decide to take a walk across the Moon.
03:54Most of it is frozen and hidden in areas that always remain in cold shadows.
03:59Those spots are far away from where most of the hematite was discovered,
04:04so it's hard to tell how the water got there.
04:07But there's an interesting idea.
04:10Those dust particles that hit the Moon
04:12might be freeing free molecules of water
04:15that are locked in the surface layer of the satellite.
04:18This is how water ends up mixed with iron.
04:21We don't know exactly what these dust particles consist of.
04:24They might be carrying some water too.
04:27As they hit the lunar surface, this might create heat,
04:30which boosts the oxidation process, and more rust forms.
04:34So, our planet does certain things that change the Moon,
04:38but humans do the same.
04:40A probe that landed on the lunar surface back in 1959
04:44was the first human-made object that touched the Moon.
04:47That's also when we started altering the Moon in unpredictable ways.
04:52Scientists call this the Lunar Anthropocene.
04:56It's like an analogy with Earth's Anthropocene,
04:59a period when human activity made an impact on the planet.
05:03It's not like we can choose a certain starting point when such an activity began.
05:07But we now know that things we have done over the history of our existence
05:11have really changed the environment of our home planet.
05:15We don't have any people living on the Moon yet,
05:18but we've already left some traces there.
05:21After humans first came to the Moon, we've had many missions there.
05:25We left some landers and flags, moved lunar soil,
05:28brought golf balls, scientific equipment, and even some human waste.
05:34Plans for the future?
05:36Send more missions up there and even potentially create an infrastructure
05:40where some of us could live, study the Moon's resources, and send them back to Earth.
05:46That's why it's important to talk about the Lunar Anthropocene
05:49to remind ourselves we have to be responsible and take care of our heritage.
05:55Many people are confused about why we sometimes see the Moon during the day.
06:00Some even believe it's something new that didn't happen before,
06:04especially after they started sharing a low-res picture
06:07of what looks like a full Moon in the middle of the day.
06:11Some have pretty unusual ideas that the Sun isn't the same color as it was before either.
06:17Allegedly, it used to be more yellow.
06:20The Sun hasn't changed its color. It's still blue-green.
06:24But it's possible that we saw it as more yellow when we were younger
06:28because before, pollution wasn't as bad.
06:31And when it comes to the Moon, we can see it both at night and during the day.
06:36It's brighter at night because there's no light coming from the Sun.
06:40But it's not like it goes anywhere during the day.
06:42It's still there, but we just don't see it during the new Moon phase.
06:47That lasts a couple of days, and during that period, the Moon comes pretty close to the Sun.
06:53The scattered light coming from the Sun makes our satellite less visible to us.
06:58Speaking of the Moon phases, they're easy to recognize when you know what to pay attention to.
07:04First, there's the Black Moon, which can mean a couple of things.
07:08One definition says that it occurs when we have two new Moons in a month.
07:13Another one claims that the Black Moon happens when there's no new Moon in a month,
07:18and that only happens in February.
07:21The Blue Moon is not called that because of the color.
07:24It's the third full Moon in a season that has four full Moons.
07:28And a Super Moon occurs when a full Moon coincides with the Moon's closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit.
07:35That's why it looks bigger than usual.
07:38Sometimes you can look up to the night sky and see an eerily red sphere up there.
07:44It's not about signs that tell us that the end of the world is coming or that werewolves are roaming around.
07:49Yep, Blood Moon is a good inspiration for stories like that.
07:53In reality, it's just an astronomical event when our planet casts a reddish shadow on the Moon.
08:00And that happens when Earth comes between the Moon and the Sun, which is called a total lunar eclipse.
08:06Earth's little companion catches some red light coming from our atmosphere,
08:10and that's why you see that specific color.
08:16That's it for today.
08:17So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:22Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!