Study: The Moon’s Water Came From Earth’s Magnetic Field – Futurism

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Ever since they discovered that the Moon wasnt bone dry, scientists have been trying to figure out where all that lunar water came from.

Past guesses include bombardment by water-carrying asteroids or that solar winds blasted the Moon with ionized molecules that eventually formed water. But it turns out the moisture may have actually come from the Earths magnetosphere, according to research that was recently accepted for publication by the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. The study actually aligns with the solar wind hypothesis, but explains how that lunar water keeps being replenished instead of evaporating away a dynamic system that could have implications for the future of human exploration on our planets natural satellite.

The idea that lunar water comes at least in part from solar winds is now pretty widely accepted among experts in the field, according to a UCLA press release on the study. But models suggest that those same solar winds should actually evaporate half of the Moons water on a roughly monthly basis, coinciding with the full moon.

But the new analysis shows that the lunar water doesnt actually vanish. Instead, its replenished by planetary magnetic winds, created by the interactions between solar winds and the Earths magnetic field, that blast the Moon with even more ionized particles.

Its a fascinating and almost poetic revelation that the Earth helps supply its natural satellite with water. But aside from abstract scientific awe, learning about the impacts of Earths magnetosphere could help space agencies better protect astronauts from cosmic radiation, according to the press release.

And, its worth noting, water is turning out to be abundant on other worlds and figuring out how it arrived at the Moon can help us figure out what happened on distant planets as well.

READ MORE: First evidence that water can be created on the lunar surface by Earths magnetosphere [UCLA Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences]

More on lunar water: NASAs Big Moon Surprise Is That Lunar Soil Contains Water

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Study: The Moon's Water Came From Earth's Magnetic Field - Futurism