Over a Billion Years, Scientists Find, the Moon Went Through a Shrinking Phase
The Moon is shrinking.
In making the announcement, scientists were quick to add that the Moon has not shrunk by much, that the shrinking may have occurred over a billion years, and that the Moon will not shrink out of view in the future.
“The kind of radius change and shrinking we’re describing here is so small that you would never notice it,” said Thomas R. Watters of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, during a NASA-sponsored telephone news conference on Thursday.
Dr. Watters and his colleagues deduced the Moon’s diminishing size from cracks on the surface seen in images taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter....
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In making the announcement, scientists were quick to add that the Moon has not shrunk by much, that the shrinking may have occurred over a billion years, and that the Moon will not shrink out of view in the future.
“The kind of radius change and shrinking we’re describing here is so small that you would never notice it,” said Thomas R. Watters of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, during a NASA-sponsored telephone news conference on Thursday.
Dr. Watters and his colleagues deduced the Moon’s diminishing size from cracks on the surface seen in images taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter....