The Moon, the Dark Side and the Giant Structure Discovered!

The Moon, with its enigmatic dark side, has been the subject of awe and fascination for thousands of years. Although it is the only celestial body on which man has taken (small) steps, it is clear that we still have a long way to go to understand its potential and uncover its secrets. However, a hidden feature of the Moon has been uncovered by scientists.

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Giant Structure Discovered in Aitken Basin!

It is a structure weighing at least 2.18 billion kilograms, more than 300 km (186 miles) deep and more than 2,000 km (1,243 miles) long, buried under the South Pole-Aitken basin, one of the largest preserved craters in the Solar System.

The researchers who made the discovery, all based in the US, suggested that the "anomaly" could be made of metal from the core of an asteroid or oxides from the crystallization of a magma ocean. "One explanation for this extra mass is that metal from the asteroid that formed this crater is still embedded in the Moon's mantle." lead author Peter B. James of Baylor University in Houston said in a statement shared with IFLScience.

He continued by showing how huge this thing was. "You could imagine taking a chunk of metal five times the size of the Big Island in Hawaii and burying it underground. That's roughly how much unexpected mass we detected."

The groundbreaking finding was made thanks to NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, which measured changes in the lunar gravity field. The South Pole-Aitken Basin has been at the center of countless studies because of how unique it is. The region offers clues about the internal structure and history of our closest satellite. Who knows what other secrets it holds?