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  • 5/24/2025
The last time human feet touched the moon was in 1972 and when those astronauts returned they brought back valuable samples taken from Earth’s only natural satellite. Now, more than 50 years later, those samples are still providing scientific insights and recently researchers uncovered a whopper about the Moon we thought we knew so well.

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00:00The last time human feet touched the moon was in 1972 and when those astronauts returned they
00:08brought back valuable samples taken from Earth's only natural satellite. Now more than 50 years
00:13later those samples are still providing scientific insights and recently researchers uncovered a
00:18whopper about the moon we thought we knew so well. According to new estimates derived from
00:22the very reanalyzed samples the moon is likely some 40 million years older than we previously
00:28thought. When Apollo 17 astronauts last returned from the lunar surface they brought back 240 pounds
00:33of material. The analysis of those materials continues today and recently scientists used
00:38new atom probe techniques on zircon mineral samples. Here's UCLA planetary scientist Vidang Zhang to
00:44explain. We counted the atom position one by one to see where they are then we confirm that the age of
00:53the mineral was authentic. The researchers say that the moon is a particular interest to scientists
00:58as it has an extremely stable environment meaning they can tell a lot about the Earth's past by
01:03looking at the moon since it doesn't have weather and other destabilizing geological activities.
01:08So it's a key recorder of a lot of events that that were not recorded on on Earth. So knowing the
01:15crystallization or the solidification of the lunar surface we are able to know a lot of things about our
01:22our own home Earth.

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