[ad_1]
<! –
->
The moon seen by the Galileo spacecraft en route to Jupiter, December 7, 1992. A new study suggests that the moon could have been a more livable place a few billion years ago. Image via NASA / JPL / USGS.
Could there have been life on the moon in the distant past? Our moon without air, mostly dry, is certainly not the first place that comes to mind when it comes to looking for life elsewhere. Today, its surface damaged by radiation is inhospitable to life as we know it. In addition, the moon does not have air or liquid water. But what about a few billion years ago? An article published by scientists in the journal Astrobiology – and announced by Washington State University on July 23, 2018 – brings together the various sources of evidence for a once-liveable moon and concludes that it is not a problem. there may not be but two habitable periods at the beginning of the moon's history.
From the new article:
Our moon is uninhabitable and lifeless today. It does not have a significant atmosphere, no liquid water on its surface, no magnetosphere to protect its surface against the solar wind and cosmic radiation, no polymeric chemistry, and it is subject to at great temperature variations diurnal. So, associating our moon with habitability seems outrageous, and certainly a decade or so ago.
However, the results of recent space missions, as well as sensitive analyzes of lunar rock and soil samples, indicated that the moon is not as dry as previously thought . In addition to the probable occurrence of water ice in the permanently shaded polar craters, spectroscopic studies also indicate the presence of hydrated surface materials at high latitudes, but not constantly shaded, with temporal variations. during a lunar day.
In addition, recent studies of the products of lunar volcanism indicate that the lunar interior also contains more water than was once appreciated and that the lunar mantle may even be as rich in water as the upper mantle of the Earth. the old moon with an atmosphere. The view overlooks the Imbrium basin and shows eruptions of volcanoes and evacuation of water vapor and other gases. Image through NASA MSFC / Lunar and Planetary Institute
Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist at Washington State University, led the study, along with Ian Crawford, professor of planetary science and astrobiology at the University of London. So what does all this mean? Could there have been a simple life on the moon? This article does not claim that only the moon could have habitable conditions
Schulze-Makuch and Crawford describe the two potentially habitable periods, early in the history of the moon. Their article says that microscopic life forms could have been possible on the moon shortly after the moon was formed 4 billion years ago, and then at a time when lunar volcanic activity was reaching its peak. its maximum, 3.5 billion years ago. It is during these two periods that scientists think that there was a lot more water vapor, and other volatile substances, released from the inside of the moon. It may even be that there was transient liquid water on the surface of the moon.
Today, the moon is dry on the bone plane, with the exception of ice patches in some craters permanently shaded at the moon's poles and ice deposits in the moon's mantle . As Schulze-Makuch stated:
If liquid water and a significant atmosphere were present on the early moon for long periods of time, we believe that the lunar surface would have been temporarily habitable.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter To learn more about this image and about the findings of the LROs
The idea is that the degassing of water vapor and other volatile substances could have allowed an atmosphere thick enough to keep liquid water on the moon's surface for millions of years. Scientists also believe that the early Moon possessed a magnetic field capable of protecting the surface from intense solar radiation and solar winds. As Schulze-Makuch said:
It looks like the moon was habitable at that time. There may have been microbes thriving in the water pools on the moon until the surface became dry and dead.
If there was a life, did it evolve on the moon? By the time the moon was habitable, the Earth was teeming with microbes such as cyanobacteria, 3.5-3.8 billion years ago. The impacts of meteorites were then more frequent, so it is possible that some microbes could be projected into space and then fell on the moon.
The possibility of a simple life on the moon in the beginning is exciting, evidence of this has still been found. The search for such evidence, with modern technology, would require returning to the moon and obtaining samples in areas where it could likely be found, such as underground ice deposits.
At the beginning of Earth's history, microbial life hold, the impacts of meteorites could have ejected microbes in space, which then made their way to the moon. Image via BBC / Solarseven.
Bottom line: The moon is airless and mostly dry now, but has ice-water deposits in craters shaded at its poles and below its surface. New research suggests more water on the moon billions of years ago and a possibly habitable moon, capable of supporting simple life forms, at that time. There is no evidence for the moment that such a life existed, but the possibility that she had is intriguing.
Read article Astrobiology : Was there a window of early habitability for the moon?
Via WSU Insider
Enjoying EarthSky Until Now? Sign up for our free daily newsletter as early as today!
