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IT IS INTERESTING TO KNOW
How Old Is the Moon?
Before the first man landed on
the moon, scientists had come up with
three possible ways that the moon might
have been formed. First, it could have
formed out of the same gas cloud that
formed the earth. Or it could have
broken off from the earth many millions
of years ago. Or perhaps the moon
formed somewhere outside the solar
system and was captured by the earth's
gravity as the two bodies passed close
to each other.
But when the astronauts landed on the
moon and brought back some moon
rocks, scientists discovered that the
moon is not made out of the same
elements as the earth. This means that
the moon probably did not form from
the same gas cloud that formed the
earth, and that it most likely didn't break
off from the earth.

SCIENTISTS WERE SURPRISED
TO FIND THAT MOST OF THE
MOON ROCKS WERE MORE THAN
31A BILLION YEARS OLD. THE
OLDEST ROCKS YET FOUND ON
EARTH ARE ABOUT THAT SAME
AGE. BUT SOME MOON ROCKS
WERE 4YZ BILLION YEARS OLD,
OLDER THAN ANY EARTH ROCKS
— AND THE MOON'S SOIL WAS
ALSO OF THAT AGE. THESE ROCKS
AND SOIL MAY NOT EVEN BE THE
OLDEST ON THE MOON. SO NOW
SCIENTISTS STILL AREN'T SURE
HOW THE MOON WAS FORMED, OR
HOW OLD IT REALLY IS — BUT IT
COULD BE OLDER THAN THE
EARTH!

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