American astronomers from the Planetary Institute in Arizona are closer to unraveling the origin of so-called lunar “vortices”, spiral formations characterized by high reflectivity on the surface of our planet’s satellite. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Planetary Science Journal (PSJ).
Such eddies are known to occur both in lunar seas (volcanic plains) and in hills.
“Lunar vortices have attracted the attention of scientists since their discovery, in part because the scientific community does not fully understand how they form. There are many hypotheses about the formation process. Each hypothesis has observations that support it, but there are also other observations that contradict the first,” says the lead author of the study. Written by John Weyrich.
Until recently, it was believed that the location and shape of mysterious objects had nothing to do with the Moon’s topography. In other words, scientists believed that the topography of the moon did not affect where and how the “eddies” appeared.
However, recent research has revealed that topography also plays a role in the formation of these formations. According to new data, the bright areas of the “vortex” in the Sea of Dreams on the far side of the Moon were lower in height than the darker strips of land passing through the area.
The same pattern emerged when examining Rainer Gamma, one of the most notable lunar “eddies” stretching 70 kilometers across the Ocean of Storms on the visible side of the satellite. Data analysis showed that the highly reflective stripes in Sea of Dreams were approximately three meters below the surrounding terrain, while in Rainer Gamma the difference was four metres.
Scientists noted that such a correlation in two completely different parts of the Moon is unlikely to be a coincidence. The discovery will allow us to better understand the patterns that contribute to the formation of these objects.
Previously Chinese researchers to create A way to make lunar soil suitable for agriculture.