As per an earth-shattering new study, seismic activity is causing the moon to shrink and wrinkle like a raisin. For the first time, the scientists have connected moonquake data to the changing lunar landscape to show that our satellite is tectonically active.
The research suggests that the jolts these days are strong enough to have caused Neil Armstrong to lose his footing as he made his one small step on the Sea of Tranquility 50 years ago.
A team of scientists examined the data from NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and compared the location of tremors recorded in the 1960s and 1970s during the Apollo program.
Seismic instruments by the American explorer showed that the moon experienced occasional quakes and mostly related to internal cooling and tidal forces from earth’s gravity.
In 2009 when the LRO began snapping high-resolution images, the scientists realized that the moon had numerous scarps like Lee-Lincoln.
In 2012, Watters figured out that the scarps and related features formed quite recently, as recent as 50 million years ago.
Also, the scientists discovered that the moon had been shrinking as it interior cooled down and maybe getting even smaller as its crust becomes brittle more like what happens to the grape as it dries out and becomes a raisin.
The LRO has found more than 3,500 of the faults. Those that appear brighter indicate freshly exposed rock suggesting an event like a moonquake.
