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Science/Tech
See other Science/Tech Articles

Title: Shrinking Moon May Be Triggering Moonquakes, Study Says
Source: [None]
URL Source: https://weather.com/science/space/n ... 5-14-moon-shrinking-moonquakes
Published: May 14, 2019
Author: Pam Wright
Post Date: 2019-05-14 19:44:54 by BTP Holdings
Keywords: None
Views: 566
Comments: 4

Shrinking Moon May Be Triggering Moonquakes, Study Says

By Pam Wright 7 hours ago weather.com

Volume 90%

00:08 00:52

00:52 Moon is Shrinking, Wrinkling and Shaking, New Study Says

A new look at old seismic data is helping scientists fill in the blanks about how the moon is changing as it gets older.

At a Glance

Seismometers left on the moon by Apollo missions recorded 28 moonquakes between 1969 and 1977.

At least eight are linked to thrust faults that are formed as the moon shrinks.

The moon is ever so slowly shrinking over time, which is creating wrinkles in the crust that may be triggering moonquakes, a new study says.

A team of researchers led by NASA used a new algorithm to re-analyze data from seismometers placed on the moon during several Apollo missions from 1969 to 1977. They compared the data with more than 12,000 photos taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) since 2009 and determined the moon is 164 feet "skinnier" than it was in the early 1970s.

According to the study published this week in Nature Geosciences, the interior of the moon is shriveling up like a raisin as it cools, creating wrinkles on the surface of the moon known as thrust faults. Unlike a grape's flexible skin that conforms as it shrivels into a raisin, the moon's surface is brittle and it breaks and cracks as it shrinks. The thrust faults that appear on the moon's surface resemble stair-shaped cliffs or scarps and are typically tens of yards high and a few miles long.

The LRO has imaged more than 3,500 of these fault scarps on the moon since 2009. The seismometers recorded 28 moonquakes ranging from 2 to 5 on the Richter scale between 1969 to 1977. The algorithm then allowed scientists to better pinpoint the epicenters of the quakes. They found that eight of those shallow quakes were located within 19 miles of thrust faults visible in LRO lunar images.

Two instruments placed on the Moon in July 1969 by Apollo 11 astronauts: a seismometer (foreground) and a laser ranging retroreflector designed by a University of Maryland-led team.

(University of Maryland)

The researchers also determined that six of the eight quakes linked to the thrust faults occurred when the moon was at its apogee, or at its farthest distance from the earth, where additional "tidal stress from Earth’s gravity causes a peak in the total stress on the moon’s crust."

“We think it’s very likely that these eight quakes were produced by faults slipping as stress built up when the lunar crust was compressed by global contraction and tidal forces, indicating that the Apollo seismometers recorded the shrinking Moon and the Moon is still tectonically active,” Thomas Watters, senior scientist in the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, said in a press release.

The research has led to more questions about what is happening as the moon ages. While the seismometers were retired in 1977, imagery capturing landslides and fallen boulders suggests moonquakes continue to occur. Future research can also help scientists understand what is occurring on other celestial bodies like the planet Mercury, which is also shrinking and has thousands of thrust faults.

“For me, these findings emphasize that we need to go back to the moon,” said co-author Nicholas Schmerr, an assistant professor of geology at the University of Maryland. “We learned a lot from the Apollo missions, but they really only scratched the surface. With a larger network of modern seismometers we could make huge strides in our understanding of the moon’s geology. This provides some very promising low-hanging fruit for science on a future mission to the moon.”

"Establishing a new network of seismometers on the lunar surface should be a priority for human exploration of the moon, both to learn more about the moon's interior and to determine how much of a hazard moonquakes present," Renee Weber, study co-author and planetary seismologist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement.

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#1. To: BTP Holdings (#0)

and determined the moon is 164 feet "skinnier" than it was in the early 1970s.

Doesn't add up.

The laser rangefinding has found the moon orbits about inch higher per year, that due to the gravitational effect of the ocean water on the moon as the earth spins. If the moon is skinnier by 164 feet over 40 years, that's about 4 feet per year and seems that would be enough to ruin the laser measurements?

Pinguinite  posted on  2019-05-14   20:08:10 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Pinguinite (#1)

If the moon is skinnier by 164 feet over 40 years, that's about 4 feet per year and seems that would be enough to ruin the laser measurements?

Why would that be true? The lasers are there to measure the distance the moon is from Earth. Those measurements have determined the moon is moving AWAY from Earth. If this continues the moon may spin away into space. ;)

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke

BTP Holdings  posted on  2019-05-15   5:48:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: BTP Holdings (#2)

Why would that be true?

If the moon becomes 164 feet "skinnier", and assuming the shrinkage is uniform over the entire surface (maybe not) then that would mean the entire surface is 82 feet lower than it was at the start, including the surface where the reflector is located.

Laser range finding would as a result find that reflector has retreated 82 feet during that time, which, again presumably, result in a conclusion that the moon is 82 feet farther away from the earth than it was previously.

But instead, the laser range finding only finds the moon slipping away by an inch per year.

I think given enough time the moon would spin out of orbit, but that will take longer than the sun is expected to live. It will swell into a red giant bigger than even the current orbit of the earth, though the earth's orbit will widen as a result and avoid being consumed by the sun. Or so they say.

But if the moon did break free from earths orbit, there's a fair chance it would eventually collide with it again.

Though if mankind is able to survive to such lengths, I expect it will be possible with such extreme tech to save the earth & moon by one by various means.

Pinguinite  posted on  2019-05-15   11:21:27 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Pinguinite (#3)

If the moon becomes 164 feet "skinnier", and assuming the shrinkage is uniform over the entire surface (maybe not) then that would mean the entire surface is 82 feet lower than it was at the start, including the surface where the reflector is located.

Laser range finding would as a result find that reflector has retreated 82 feet during that time, which, again presumably, result in a conclusion that the moon is 82 feet farther away from the earth than it was previously.

But instead, the laser range finding only finds the moon slipping away by an inch per year.

We have not seen any of the technological readings from the laser shots at the moon. So how can we say for certain whether any of this is true? We must take the scientists word for it all. ;)

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke

BTP Holdings  posted on  2019-05-15   19:38:07 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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