"Study Reveals Volcanic Eruptions on Moon's Far Side Billions of Years Ago"

 "Study Reveals Volcanic Eruptions on Moon's Far Side Billions of Years Ago"

New research has confirmed that volcanic eruptions occurred on the far side of the Moon billions of years ago, just like on the side we can see from Earth. Scientists studied lunar soil samples brought back by China’s Chang’e-6 mission, which was the first to collect material from the Moon's far side. These samples contained volcanic rock fragments, some of which were about 2.8 billion years old, and one piece was even older, around 4.2 billion years old.

This discovery is significant because the far side of the Moon is largely unexplored, and scientists previously had little data about its geological history. We already knew there were volcanoes on the near side of the Moon, based on research from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The new samples confirm that volcanic activity also took place on the far side, shedding light on its volcanic past.

The Moon’s far side is very different from the near side. It's filled with craters and has fewer dark, flat plains formed by lava flows. The reason for this difference is still a mystery, but the new findings suggest that volcanic eruptions continued on the far side for over a billion years. Future studies will aim to understand how such volcanic activity lasted for so long.

This research was published in the journals *Nature* and *Science*, and it marks a key milestone in our understanding of the Moon’s history.