The new research suggests that the distant side of a cooler moon is more cold than the near side

The blatant contradiction between the side of the moon and the distant side of the terrain, volcanic activity and cortical structure provides decisive visions in the formation of the moon and development. However, the lack of Farside samples has long limited the investigations into the mechanisms that lead this symmetry in the hemisphere. In new research, scientists looked at shrapnel from rocks and soil carried out by a spacecraft in China last 6 last year from a vast hole on the other side of the moon. They confirmed the previous results that the rock sample was about 2.8 billion years old, and they analyzed the chemical makeup of its minerals to estimate that they were formed from volcanic lava inside the inner part of the moon at a temperature of about 1100 degrees Celsius-about 100 degrees Celsius cooling from the samples from the near side. the Results Posted in the magazine Geological nature.

The global map of Albido is a 750 nm candidate from the UV-VIS camera on NASA spacecraft. The image shows the near and distant side of the moon in Lambert, dropping the area. Image credit: NASA.

“The nearby side of the moon is completely different on the surface and perhaps in the interior,” said Professor Yang Lee, a researcher at College University in London and Beijing University.

“It is one of the great moon puzzles. We call it the two -sided moon. A significant temperature has been assumed between the nearby side and the rest of the scarf, but our study provides the first evidence using real samples.”

Xuelin Zhu, PhD, a student at Beijing University, said.

“They show us that the differences between the near and far side are not only on the surface but deepening inside.”

In the study, the authors analyzed 300 g of lunar soil for the Institute of Beijing Research for uranium.

“The sample collected by the Chang’e 6 mission is the first from the other side of the moon,” said Dr. Xing, a researcher at the Beijing Institute for Research for Uranium Geology.

The researchers assigned selected parts of the sample, which are largely composed of basalt pellets, with the electron probe, to determine its composition.

They measured small differences in the analogues of lead using the Ion probe so far, the rock of 2.8 billion years.

Then they used several techniques to estimate the sample temperature while in different stages of its past when it was deep in the interior of the moon.

The first is an analysis of mineral formation and comparing this computer simulation to estimate how hot the rock is formed.

This was compared to similar estimates of rocks near the side, with a different 100 degrees Celsius.

The second approach was to return further in the history of the sample, as it concluded from its chemical makeup how much the “parents’ rock”, and comparing this with estimates of the near samples gathered by the Apollo missions.

They found again about 100 degrees Celesius.

Since the returned samples are limited, they estimated the temperatures of origin rocks using the satellite data for the Chang’e Landing site on the other side, comparing this with equivalent satellite data from the nearby side, and again find a difference – this time of 70 ° C.

On the surface of the moon, the heat -producing elements such as uranium, thorium and potassium are met alongside phosphorous and rare Earth elements in the material known as the rich Kreep (the shortcut from potassium that contains the chemical symbol K, the elements of Earth rare (ReE), and P for phosphorus).

The leading theory of the origin of the moon is that it was formed from the debris that was created from a tremendous collision between the Earth and Protopianite the size of Mars, and it has begun entirely or mostly of molten rocks.

She strengthened this magma while cooling, but Kreep elements were inconsistent with the crystals that were formed and thus remained longer in magma.

Scientists expect Kreep materials to spread evenly across the moon. Instead, it is believed to be assembled in the mantle of the near side.

The distribution of these elements may be the reason that the nearby side was more volcanic active.

Although the current temperature of the distant and close side of the moon’s mantle is unknown to this study, it is possible that any temperature between the two sides will continue for a very long time, as the moon cools very slowly from the moment when it was formed from a catastrophic effect.

However, scientists are currently working on a final answer to this question.

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she And others. A relatively cold, brilliant cloak concluded from the Zhang-6 Basalt and remote sensing. Nat. JellyIt was published on the Internet on September 30, 2025; Doi: 10.1038/S41561-025-01815-Z

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