NASA: Billions Of Years Ago, The Moon Had An Atmosphere
Credit: Wired
According to a new study, Earth's moon likely had a temporary atmosphere 3 to 4 billion years ago.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas discovered the moon's now nonexistent atmosphere was caused by ancient volcanoes which ejected gases into the lunar sky at a rate faster than they could escape to the void of space.
The atmosphere was only 2% the density of Earth's, but still twice that of Mars. It lasted for approximately 70 million years before dissipating.
David King from the LPI spoke to Phys.org and said, "This work dramatically changes our view of the Moon from an airless rocky body to one that used to be surrounded by an atmosphere more prevalent than that surrounding Mars today."
Per TIME, the research was based on prior studies of samples carried back during Apollo missions.
The study found that the moon's magmas "carried gas components, such as carbon monoxide, the ingredients for water, sulfur, and other volatile species," the scientists wrote in a statement.
