A Strange Swirl on the Moon Could Reveal Hidden Clues About Its Mysterious Past

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Transcript

00:00The Reiner Gamma Lunar Swirl is sort of an anomaly on the moon.

00:07It was once believed to be a crater, but experts eventually realized it did not cast a shadow.

00:12They also began to notice that it actually shines in what would otherwise be a relatively

00:16dark area of the lunar surface, meaning it's likely reflective.

00:20Reflective lunar material isn't completely novel, but it is relatively rare, and this

00:24material is surrounded by a darker regolith making things even stranger.

00:28Experts long believe the darker surface material is likely a pocket of magnetized rock that

00:33deflects solar particles shielding it from the sun.

00:35This could darken the area through chemical reactions, sort of like weathering on Earth,

00:39but without an atmosphere.

00:40That's the leading theory.

00:42But to test it, researchers looked at more than 60,000 boulders sorted by AI, which had

00:46similar properties.

00:47They found that it's possible that instead, there may be a thin layer of dust covering

00:51these large rocks, interacting with magnetic properties in the moon itself.

00:55They say the dust could have been thrown skyward by a meteor or comet impact, and then settled

01:00after a time.

01:01They say this could be a clue about the moon's magnetic history, something scientists have

01:05long wondered about.