The Moon has this massive crater, the South Pole-Aitken Basin, located on its far side.
It’s one of the largest craters in our Solar System and a hot spot for lunar investigations.
India’s first lunar lander is targeting this area, and NASA’s Artemis 3 mission plans to land humans at the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
But the most exciting news? Astronomers discovered a huge mass anomaly under this crater in 2019.
The Colossal Hidden Mass
This structure is colossal, around 4,8 billion billion pounds and stretching over 186 Miles deep.
Scientists think it might be metal left over from the asteroid that created the crater.
Peter B. James from Baylor University, the lead author, explained, “Imagine taking a pile of metal five times larger than the Big Island of Hawaii and burying it underground. That’s roughly the unexpected mass we detected.”
Discovering the Anomaly
Using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, which measures tiny changes in the Moon’s gravitational field, the team found this surprising mass.
It’s so heavy that it pulls the basin floor down by almost a mile! The crater itself is about 1553 miles in diameter, so this is a big deal.
Combining this data with lunar topography info from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, they uncovered this giant mass hundreds of miles below the basin.
One theory is that the metal from the asteroid that created the crater is still embedded in the Moon’s mantle.
Another idea suggests dense oxides formed as the Moon’s magma ocean cooled and solidified.
Why the South Pole-Aitken Basin Matters
This discovery makes the South Pole-Aitken Basin a fascinating region for space agencies. It can help us understand the Moon’s interior composition and its history.
Plus, it’s a great place to study what happens when a huge asteroid smashes into a rocky planet.
More Mysteries on the Moon
Just last month, astronomers made another fascinating discovery beneath the Compton and Belkovich craters on the Moon’s far side: a massive, heat-emitting granite structure.
This unexpected find reveals ancient volcanic activity on the Moon, showcasing processes previously thought to exist only on Earth.
Discovery of a Heat-Emitting Granite Mass
Granite, a rock common on Earth, forms deep underground, usually beneath volcanoes.
However, its formation typically requires water and tectonic activity, conditions not usually associated with the Moon.
This makes the detection of a large granite mass particularly surprising.
How They Found It
Using instruments that detect microwave wavelengths, researchers discovered that the area beneath Compton-Belkovich was emitting significant heat, suggesting the presence of a large heat source within the lunar crust.
This heat, coming from radioactive elements trapped in the granite, persists long after the last volcanic activity, which occurred 3.5 billion years ago.
Implications of the Granite Discovery
The researchers believe this granite mass is a batholith, a large body of rock that forms when magma cools beneath the surface.
Similar structures exist on Earth, such as Yosemite’s El Capitan and Half Dome.
The discovery challenges previous assumptions about volcanic processes on the Moon and hints at the possibility of finding granite elsewhere in the Solar System, reshaping our understanding of ancient planetary volcanism.