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September 5, 2008 10:53:26 PM CDT

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Water Found in Moon Rock

Posted Jul 10, 08 5:00 AM CDT in Technology,  Science & Health 

(Newser) – Water has been detected in moon rock brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts, reports Space.com. A team used a new super-sensitive technique to discover the water in volcanic glass beads in the rock. The stunning find, detailed in the journal Nature, is forcing scientists to rethink theories about the moon's origin 4.5 billion years ago.

Scientists have long believed that the moon formed from molten space pieces that resulted when a planet crashed into Earth. They theorized that any water would have turned to vapor and dissipated into space. "This really appears to have changed the rules of the game," said a researcher.

Source Space.com

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Earth rising above the surface of the Moon. Trace water found in volcanic moon rock is making scientists rethink much of what we know about the Moon.   (AP Photo/NASA)
The discovery of traces of water in volcanic moon rock has forced scientists to revisit theories about the origin of Earth's closest neighbor.   (AP Photo/NASA)
Apollo astronauts at Kennedy Space center in 1968. Moon rock brought back from Apollo missions in the Sixties and Seventies have been found to contain traces of water.   (AP Photo/NASA, FILE)
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NASA  • moon  • Johns Hopkins University  • Apollo missions  • moon colonization  • moon rock


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