Man in the Moon Mystery Solved

Scientists think they know why the Moon’s surface has dark shapes.

Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

The surface of the Moon has huge dark areas. Many people see a face of a man in the shapes. For years, scientists thought an asteroid created the “man in the Moon.” On Wednesday, they announced a new idea.

So, what created the dark spot called Oceanus Procellarum? It wasn’t a space rock slamming into the Moon. It was probably a huge volcano! It flooded the Moon with lava about 4 billion years ago. That created the dark rock we see today.

Two spacecraft helped make the discovery. The pair, named GRAIL, studied the Moon’s shape and surface. Scientists noticed that the dark area was not the right shape. If an asteroid crashed into it, the shape would be a circle. But its shape was a rectangle!

Maria Zuber from Cambridge, Massachusetts, was an author of the report. She told the Washington Post that it was a great discovery. “For anyone who’s ever looked up at the Moon and wondered why it has this pattern — now we have an answer.”

Last updated: October 2, 2014, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)

Cover: Shutterstock. Article image: Kopernik Observatory/NASA/Colorado School of Mines/MIT/JPL/Goddard Space Flight Center. Slideshow 1 4: NASA. 2: JAXA/NHK. 3: Jay Dickson / Brown University

Discovery

Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

Man in the Moon Mystery Solved

Scientists think they know why the Moon’s surface has dark shapes.

The surface of the Moon has huge dark areas. Many people see a face of a man in the shapes. For years, scientists thought an asteroid created the “man in the Moon.” On Wednesday, they announced a new idea.

So, what created the dark spot called Oceanus Procellarum? It wasn’t a space rock slamming into the Moon. It was probably a huge volcano! It flooded the Moon with lava about 4 billion years ago. That created the dark rock we see today.

Two spacecraft helped make the discovery. The pair, named GRAIL, studied the Moon’s shape and surface. Scientists noticed that the dark area was not the right shape. If an asteroid crashed into it, the shape would be a circle. But its shape was a rectangle!

Maria Zuber from Cambridge, Massachusetts, was an author of the report. She told the Washington Post that it was a great discovery. “For anyone who’s ever looked up at the Moon and wondered why it has this pattern — now we have an answer.”

Last updated: October 2, 2014, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)

Discovery

Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

The surface of the Moon has huge dark areas. Many people see a face of a man in the shapes. For years, scientists thought an asteroid created the “man in the Moon.” On Wednesday, they announced a new idea.

So, what created the dark spot called Oceanus Procellarum? It wasn’t a space rock slamming into the Moon. It was probably a huge volcano! It flooded the Moon with lava about 4 billion years ago. That created the dark rock we see today.

Two spacecraft helped make the discovery. The pair, named GRAIL, studied the Moon’s shape and surface. Scientists noticed that the dark area was not the right shape. If an asteroid crashed into it, the shape would be a circle. But its shape was a rectangle!

Maria Zuber from Cambridge, Massachusetts, was an author of the report. She told the Washington Post that it was a great discovery. “For anyone who’s ever looked up at the Moon and wondered why it has this pattern — now we have an answer.”

Last updated: October 2, 2014, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
By Russell Kahn (Russ)

Draw it AskRuss

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Giant volcanoes may have caused the dark areas of the Moon.

Discovery

Man in the Moon Mystery Solved

Scientists think they know why the Moon’s surface has dark shapes.

The surface of the Moon is covered with huge dark areas. Many people think they see a face of a man in the shapes. For years, scientists thought an asteroid …

October 3, 2014