WASHINGTON — The moon may be shrinking.
But not to worry, lovers and crooners, it won’t be disappearing any time soon.
New research indicates there are cracks in the moon’s crust that have formed as the interior has cooled and shrunk over the past billion years or so. That means the surface has shrunk too, though not so you’d notice from gazing at it.
Scientists have identified 14 such cracks or thrust faults called lobate scarps scattered over the moon’s surface, said Thomas Watters of the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The scarps previously had been noted at the equator, but this is the first evidence in other areas, indicating they result from a global process.
Watters and colleagues describe their find in today’s edition of the journal Science. The study calls the scarps “evidence of recent thrust faulting on the moon.” But this is planetary science, where “recent” can mean a billion years ago.
The size of the scarps indicates a shrinkage in the size of the moon of about 328 feet, which wouldn’t be nearly enough to be noticed with the naked eye. The moon is about one-fourth the size of the Earth in diameter.
