A Study Calls Asteroid Collision Millions Of Years Ago Coinciding With Other Big Events

Illustration of an asteroid that could hit the moon. (photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A study found that the impact of asteroid collisions on the moon millions of years ago coincided with other small impacts.

Experts studied the clashes of microscopic glass dating up to two billion years of age found in the regolith brought back to Earth in December 2020.

These microscopic glass maniks are part of China's Chang'E-5 Lunar mission of the National Space Agency.

According to them, the heat and impact pressure of the meteorite created glass reflections, and scientists say from there they can reveal the timeline of the bombings.

Lead author of the study Professor Alexander Nemchin, from Curtin University, Australia, said the findings suggest the time and frequency of asteroid impacts on the moon may have been reflected.

"We are combining a variety of microscopic analytical techniques, numerical modeling, and geological surveys to determine how the microscopic glass manned from this month formed and when," Nemchin said, quoted by Dailymail.

Nemchin and his team found that several groups of age-torn lunar glass coincided exactly with the age of some of the biggest events, including the Chicxulub collision crater responsible for dinosaur extinction events.

In addition, the study also found that major impact events on Earth such as the Chicxulub crater, 66 million years ago, could be accompanied by a number of smaller impacts.

"If this is true, this suggests that the distribution of the age frequency from the impact on the moon may provide valuable information about the impact on the Earth or the inner solar system," he explained.

A co-author, professor Katarina Miljkovic, of Australia's Center for Space Science and Technology, said future studies could help explain lunar history.

"The next step is to compare the data obtained from this Chang'E-5 sample with other lunar soil and the age of the crater to be able to reveal other significant lunar collision events," said Milijkovic.

According to him, future research will in turn be able to reveal new evidence of what possible impacts will affect life on Earth.