Water On Moon Likely Came From Earth Say NASA Scientists

Water On Moon Likely Came From Earth Say NASA Scientists (photo courtesy NASA)

Water on the Moon May Have Come from the Earth

Water that resides on the moon in crystallized form has been found to be a near isotopic fingerprint match with the Earth’s.

The finding has thrown the door open to theories on the origins of how water made it to the moon.

The most recent theory was that icy comets bombarded the moon’s surface. However, when scientists studied the deuterium-to-hydrogen levels in the lunar lava, it did not match the isotopic fingerprint of the comets believed to be have brought water to the moon.

Point in fact, the data suggests the origins are from the Earth. The long-held theory on the origin of the moon is that a celestial body the size of Mars crashed into the Earth and forced a chunk of our planet to break off and form into the moon.

The study’s leader, Alberto Saal, a geochemist from Brown University, opined on why there has been no evidence found of a third body that crashed into the Earth giving rise to the moon. He openly questioned that it appears as if someone just stuck their hand into the Earth and took a piece of it thus forming the moon. Saal is circumspect about his findings saying they represent a piece of the ongoing puzzle as to the origin of the moon.

The study was funded by NASA’s cosmochemistry and LASER programs and by the Brown/MIT NASA Lunar Science Institute.

On The Web:

Moon’s water may have come from Earth-bound meteorites
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-moon-water-20130510,0,3895364.story

Water on moon likely came from Earth, study suggests
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/05/09/science-water-moon.html