A series of mini black holes may have crashed into the Moon

Mini black holes formed in the early universe may have crashed into the Moon so hard that it mutated the surrounding matter.

The moon is likely filled with craters caused by collisions with mini black holes, and studying them will reveal valuable information about dark matter, Futurism reported on November 22. The new study is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Image of the Moon as seen from Earth, according to data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA). (Photo: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)

The researchers think that a series of atomic-sized black holes formed shortly after the Big Bang. As these super-dense objects move through space, they begin to spread out and fly to the Solar System, where they then bounce off the Moon.

Mini black holes can also crash into other celestial bodies, including Earth. However, because the Moon has a thin atmosphere, this celestial body is not as well protected from collisions as the blue planet.

"In principle, the Moon is nothing special. We mention the Moon because it is well studied by humans. Some of the Moons of Neptune, Jupiter and Mercury are also good candidates. ", said Almog Yalinewich, a physicist at the Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics and study co-author.

The traces left by the mini black hole could help experts understand more about dark matter, the mysterious substance thought to make up most of the matter in the universe. Some scientists believe that dark matter is created from black holes that formed from fluctuations in density in the early universe.

Therefore, if mini black holes from the early universe crash into the Moon, they could leave traces of dark matter and change the characteristics of other matter they come into contact with. Specifically, black holes have such a strong gravitational effect that they may have crashed into the Moon so hard that it changed the properties of the surrounding matter. Nuclear bombs do the same thing. This type of bomb used to turn the sand around the explosion site into glass.

The team believes that future manned spacecraft to the Moon, such as NASA's Artemis program, could help them find and study the craters left by black holes, helping to shed light on the nature of the moon. mysterious dark matter.