Discover 'unusual scars' in the Imbrium impact crater on the Moon

The mystery that lasted more than half a century about unspecified long traces in the Imbrium impact crater has been explained by the highly detailed analysis of the results conducted by researchers at Brown University. This is one of the largest impact craters in the Solar System , formed 4 billion years ago during the Great Crash and understanding its origin may help astronomers rewrite The most violent phase of Earth's history.

With a diameter of 1200km, Imbrium impact crater is known to scientists as one of the largest craters on the Moon and, of course, it must be formed by a collision with a very large object. In a study published recently in the journal Nature, scientists claim that the crater was formed by a collision with a protoplanet roughly the size of New Jersey state of America.

The collision was so big and the debris flew in all directions, creating a rain lasting for 200 million years, and carrying on Earth both gold and platinum and many other metals. The leading researcher, Professor Peter Schultz at Brown University, said: "Previous models estimate that the impact meteorite is about 80 km in size. But according to our analysis data it must be 250km and this is just a modest estimate.

Imbrium impact crater location.

As mentioned above, Imbrium has long been known as one of the most prominent impact craters in our Solar System . This is one of the most sought-after topics of professional and amateur astronomers. One of the noticeable features of this crater is the clusters of ash spreading out like the spokes on wheels. They are created by crumbling rocks when the crater is formed and concentrated in the Southeast region, indicating the impact of the object coming from the Northwest.

However, in the process of observing a black hole, another thing was noticed: a set of scars that did not converge into the center of the pit. Schultz said: "In the '50s and' 60s, astronomers could not determine what these scars were. It has long been a source of curiosity for scientists." And now, Schultz and his team claim to have elucidated these mysteries through a better understanding of the nature of the Big Bombardment. His method is to replicate the old story: biting bullets at supersonic speed out of a giant cannon.

Testing comparison of bombardment results simulating the crater formation on the Moon.

Schultz added: "It is a three-story high-powered gun made by NASA in the Apollo program to understand the natural conditions of the Moon's surface. It fires small bullets at a speed of 6-7km / s. and create extremely powerful shock waves ". By using high-speed cameras to record the collision simulation process, combined with the computer-based analysis model, Schultz explained the origin of the non- centrifugal long scar lines of the Imbrium crater. . From there, he was able to estimate the meteor's perimeter that collided with the Moon in the past.

Accordingly its size is 20 times larger than previous estimates and therefore, it can be considered a pre-planetary disc - a disk containing condensate gas around a newly formed young star. And in fact, there had been researches mentioned before that the Moon had been hit by a disk of planetary money. This discovery sheds some light on the origins of meteorites in the Great Bombardment, and understands the origin of many other craters in the solar system, typically on Mercury, Mars, .

Reference: Nature, Gizmodo