British and German scientists have announced that they have determined the exact age of the Moon. According to their findings, the Moon is now estimated to be 4.527 billion years old. This figure is believed to be the most accurate to date.
The research team, hailing from the University of Oxford and the Universities of Cologne and Münster, calculated the Moon’s age by analyzing rocks brought back from the lunar surface by Apollo astronauts. They measured the decay ratio of the isotope Tungsten-182, which is very common in lunar rocks, to determine the age of the Moon.
According to the scientists, all radioactive isotopes decay and transform into different nuclear products over time.
By examining the ratio of the parent radioactive isotope to the amount of daughter nuclear products, and based on the decay rate of the parent isotope, they can estimate how long the lunar rocks have existed.
The team acknowledges that future calculations may yield even more accurate figures, but the current estimate remains the most precise, differing by only a few tens of millions of years.
M.T.
