00:03The last time human feet touched the moon was in 1972 and when those astronauts returned they
00:08brought back valuable samples taken from Earth's only natural satellite. Now more than 50 years
00:13later those samples are still providing scientific insights and recently researchers uncovered a
00:18whopper about the moon we thought we knew so well. According to new estimates derived from
00:23those very reanalyzed samples the moon is likely some 40 million years older than we previously
00:28thought. When Apollo 17 astronauts last returned from the lunar surface they brought back 240 pounds
00:33of material. The analysis of those materials continues today and recently scientists used
00:38new atom probe techniques on zircon mineral samples. Here's UCLA planetary scientist Bidong Zhang to
00:44explain. We counted the atom position one by one to see where they are then we confirm that the age
00:53of
00:53the mineral was authentic. The researchers say that the moon is a particular interest to scientists
00:59as it has an extremely stable environment meaning they can tell a lot about the Earth's past by
01:03looking at the moon since it doesn't have weather and other destabilizing geological activities. So
01:08it's a key recorder of a lot of events that that were not recorded on on Earth. So knowing the
01:15crystallization or the solidification of the lunar surface we are able to know a lot of things about
01:22that are our own home Earth.
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