Most of the water contained in the interior of the Moon could arrive through asteroids between 4,500 and 4,300 million years ago , so this water could appear on our satellite at the beginning of its formation, according to a new study led by scientists. from the Open University (United Kingdom) and collected by the journal Nature.
According to the study, these small but representative amounts of water from the Moon (it is estimated that there are 10 to 300 parts per million (ppm) of water) immersed at the bottom of the cold craters of our natural satellite, reached the Moon thanks to to asteroids – and not comets as had been proposed until now – during the formation of our satellite about 4.5 billion years ago, when an object the size of Mars collided with Earth.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers compared the chemistry and isotopic composition of lunar volatiles (including the water within them) with those of volatile materials in comets and meteorite samples, calculating the proportion of water that could have come from those. objects.
The results show that more than 80% of the hidden water inside the Moon arrived on board asteroids , a type of “water-rich” or hydrated asteroids, known as “carbonaceous chondrites”, which would be mainly responsible for the presence of water on the Moon.
Experts theorize with a similar supply on Earth in that same time period, which would suggest a common source of water for both the Earth and the Moon.
