Dating the Moon's Impact Craters (IMAGE)

University of Toronto

Dating the Moon's Impact Craters

Caption

Image depicts the method by which the Diviner instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter senses the heat emanating from the lunar surface, which allows scientists to map the abundance of rocks around young impact craters. The team used this information to estimate ages for lunar craters larger than 10 kilometers in diameter; young craters have lots of rocks near their rims, and those rocks break down into smaller particles over time, disappearing from the Diviner thermal data.

Credit

Data plots by Rebecca Ghent; Illustration by Thomas Gernon

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