The moon shrinks and trembles: what is happening and whether to worry

13 in May, American scientists published an alarming statement: our favorite natural satellite of the Earth is shrinking, as if shrinking in size, and also subject to vibrations that can be compared to earthquakes. These phenomena, according to experts, were discovered only recently. Should we all be nervous?

Фото: Depositphotos

Research co-author Nicolas Schmerr, a geologist at the University of Maryland, specifically for USA Today said: what is happening to the Moon is not a reason for concern for the inhabitants of the Earth.

“As the moon has cooled, its overall size has shrunk or shrunk by about 100 meters over the last 4,5 billion years, which is why we say it is shrinking,” he said. “This causes the cortex to shrink.”

"If there is enough compressive stress, the crust can collapse, causing earthquakes - or in this case, moonquakes," the expert added.

Fortunately, the moon's mass doesn't change, "and the radius changes only slightly, so the impact on Earth is negligible and it won't affect the tides or cause the moon to disappear," Schmerr said.

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To detect the "earthquakes," the researchers analyzed data collected by Apollo astronauts in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as new information from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). LRO is an unmanned probe in orbit around the Moon launched by NASA.

This is what happens: The moon seems to shrivel in the same way that grapes turn into raisins, shrinking and becoming wrinkled in folds. However, unlike the flexible skin on grapes, the surface of the moon is fragile. Thus, as the moon shrinks in size, its crust shrinks, forming “discontinuous jolts”, when one part of the crust rises above the next part.

“Our analysis provides the first evidence that these faults are still active and likely causing lunar earthquakes today as the Moon continues to gradually cool and shrink,” said study lead author Thomas Watters of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. “Some of these earthquakes can be quite strong, around five on the Richter scale.”

Scientists say it's impressive that Apollo data is still paying dividends for modern explorers many years later: "This is a great testament to the benefits of the Apollo program, whose seismic data collected more than 40 years ago helps confirm that the moon is tectonically active today." Watters said.

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Schmerr said the results also “underscore that we need to get back to the Moon. We learned a lot from the Apollo missions, but they really only scratched the surface."

“Having a large network of modern seismometers, we could make significant progress in understanding the geology of the moon. This gives very promising results for the science of a future mission to the moon. ”

The study was published in the peer-reviewed British journal Nature Geoscience.

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