Moon maybe a little younger than you believed until now. Researchers from the German Aerospace Center and the University of Münster have released new estimates for the age of the moon. According to their model, it's 85 million years younger than current estimates suggest. The first rock samples of the moon came to Earth from the Apollo 11 Mission, but researchers say that those aren't old enough to verify the normally accepted fact that the Moon is 4.51 billion years old. According to the most believed hypothesis, the Moon was formed from the debris of a collision between Earth and a smaller planet called Theia resulting in molten rock that solidified into one whole body that began orbiting Earth. ISRO Releases Picture of Phobos, Biggest Moon of Mars, Captured by Mars Orbiter Mission.

According to the new study, the Moon was created when the Earth was fully formed. Researchers at the German Aerospace Center found out that, not only did the moon once have a massive, fiery magma ocean, but our rocky satellite also formed later than scientists previously expected.

Geophysicist Maxime Maurice from the German Aerospace Centre says, "The results of our latest modelling suggest that the young Earth was hit by a protoplanet some 140 million years after the birth of the Solar System 4.567 billion years ago. According to our calculations, this happened 4.425 billion years ago – with an uncertainty of 25 million years – and the Moon was born." Full Moon 2020 Names’ List and Meanings: From July Buck Moon to October the Hunter Moon, Here Are Unique Names of the Celestial Events You May Not Have Known.

The models run by Maurice and her colleagues introspects two timescales: how old the Earth was when Theia hit it, and how long the Moon's massive magma ocean took to cool after it had begun to solidify. In the mode, it seems that the second process took around 200 million years from start to finish. Simulations based on how the Moon's silicate minerals may have evolved over time led the researchers to their final Moon age of 4.425 billion years.

geophysicist Sabrina Schwinger from the German Aerospace Centre says, "By comparing the measured composition of the Moon's rocks with the predicted composition of the magma ocean from our model, we were able to trace the evolution of the ocean back to its starting point, the time at which the Moon was formed."

This study comes after three years when the age of the Moon was determined to be some 140 million years. However, the new findings match with the period when it was believed that Earth's metallic core formed, late in the geological development of our own planet. It also fits in with the timeline of previous research into damage to asteroids – damage that may have been caused by the Earth-Theia collision.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2020 12:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).