The Reiner Gamma lunar swirl is sort of an anomaly on the Moon. It was once believed to be a crater, but experts eventually realized it did not cast a shadow. Now experts say it raises questions about the Moon’s magnetic history.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 The Rhiner Gamma lunar swirl is sort of an anomaly on the moon.
00:07 It was once believed to be a crater,
00:09 but experts eventually realized it did not cast a shadow.
00:12 They also began to notice that it actually
00:14 shines in what would otherwise be a relatively dark area
00:17 of the lunar surface, meaning it's likely reflective.
00:20 Reflective lunar material isn't completely novel,
00:22 but it is relatively rare.
00:24 And this material is surrounded by a darker regolith,
00:27 making things even stranger.
00:28 Experts long believed the darker surface material
00:31 is likely a pocket of magnetized rock
00:32 that deflects solar particles shielding it from the sun.
00:35 This could darken the area through chemical reactions,
00:38 sort of like weathering on Earth,
00:39 but without an atmosphere.
00:40 That's the leading theory.
00:42 But to test it, researchers looked
00:43 at more than 60,000 boulders sorted by AI,
00:46 which had similar properties.
00:47 They found that it's possible that instead, there
00:49 may be a thin layer of dust covering these large rocks,
00:52 interacting with magnetic properties in the moon itself.
00:55 They say the dust could have been
00:56 thrown skyward by a meteor or comet impact,
00:59 and then settled after a time.
01:01 They say this could be a clue about the moon's
01:03 magnetic history, something scientists
01:05 have long wondered about.
01:08 (light music)
01:10 (gentle music)