Astronomers have discovered a large metallic structure on the Moon; look

Recently, planetary scientists revealed the identification of a An impressive lunar structureIt extends at a depth of more than 300 kilometers and weighs about 2.17 billion kilograms.

This intriguing formation has raised suspicions among researchers, who believe it could contain traces of mineral from the asteroid responsible for creating one of the largest craters in the entire solar system.

The Antarctic-Aitken Basin, as it is known, is an impressive crater and is located across from our natural satellite. In 2019, astronomers discovered a hidden anomaly in the subterranean cluster The surface of the moonWhich aroused great interest.

Since then, this area has become a focal point for exciting investigations, including the exciting Artemis 3 lunar rover mission.

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Astronomers discover a large structure on the moon

At the time the puzzling lunar morphology came to light, the study centered on Peter B. James, a researcher at Baylor University.

James revealed that the team achieved this breakthrough by leveraging information from NASA’s Gravity Recovery Mission and Internal Laboratory (GRAIL) probes. NASA.

These probes are adept at measuring subtle fluctuations in the lunar gravitational field, allowing researchers to pinpoint this fascinating structure. The contribution of lunar topographic information provided by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was instrumental to the investigation.

With this integration, it was possible to verify the presence of a surprisingly large mass, located hundreds of kilometers below the Antarctic-Aitken Basin, the researcher noted.

(Photo: NASA/Reproduce)

As mentioned, the main assumption about the discovery is the possibility that this additional mass may have originated from the mineral matter that originated from the asteroid and that caused the formation of the moon’s crater.

It is estimated that about 4 billion years ago, when the asteroid slammed into the moon, rather than penetrating its core, it may have fused into the lunar mantle bands.

There is another alternative related to the cooling and solidification process of the moon, and the hypothesis raised by the researchers is that during the stage in which the magma ocean was formed and subsequently cooled, concentrations of dense oxides could have occurred.

This complex dynamic could have generated the existence of the finite cluster. Because of these and other mysteries that surround it, the Antarctic-Aitken Basin has, for a long time, sparked great interest among many space scientists.