A RAIN of soggy space rocks may have brought water to the moon.
The moon is thought to have formed when a giant object smashed into the early Earth. The heat from this impact should have left the moon drier than a bone, so researchers were surprised to find water in rocks from deep below the lunar surface.
Erik Hauri at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and his colleagues analysed lunar rocks and estimate that meteorites equivalent to just 0.001 to 0.004 lunar masses could have brought water to the molten moon when it was 100 million years old (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, ). 鈥淎nything that crashed into the moon at that point got mixed in wholesale,鈥� says Hauri.
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淩ocky rain brought lunar water鈥�