Researchers in the United States and China have discovered that volcanoes were erupting on the mysterious far side of the moon billions of years ago.
When Chinese researchers analyzed samples collected, they found fragments of basalt (volcanic rock formed after eruptions) dating back more than 4.2 billion years.
The findings were published Friday in the journals Nature and Science.
Scientists already knew about volcanic activity on the moon’s near side, visible from Earth, but the “dark side” has vastly different geology and remains largely unexplored.
The first rock and dust samples from the far side of the moon were collected by the Chang’e 6 rover over a risky two-month period.
Led by experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the researchers used radiometric dating to determine the age of the volcanic rock.
Their analysis also revealed a “surprisingly young” eruption that occurred about 2.83 billion years ago, something that has never been found on the near side of the moon.
“This is an incredibly exciting study,” Professor Qiuli Li of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics said in a detailed review.
“This is the first geochronology study from Chang’e 6 samples and will be of great importance to the lunar and planetary science community.”
Although this part of the moon is widely known as the “dark side,” it actually receives a lot of sunlight. We just don’t see it.
This is because the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth and takes the same amount of time to orbit the Earth (about 27 days). This means that the same side is always facing us.
The first image of the backside was taken in 1959 by the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3. Although they were grainy, they gave Earthlings a glimpse of the moon from a different angle.
Since then, some higher quality images have been sent in, including an incredible NASA video showing the moon from the far side with Earth in the background.
And earlier this year, during the Chang’e 6 mission, a small rover was deployed to take selfies of the lander sitting on the rocky surface beyond.
