Moon Craters a Window to Earth's Past

By analyzing data on lunar craters provided by the Diviner instrument aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists have made a fascinating discovery about the history of impacts on both the Earth and the Moon.Music Provided by Killer Tracks: “The Starting Squad” - David Corboy & Guido CastilloWatch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel. By looking at the Moon, the most complete and accessible chronicle of the asteroid collisions that carved our young solar system, a group of scientists is challenging our understanding of a part of Earth’s history.The number of asteroid impacts to the Moon and Earth increased by two to three times starting around 290 million years ago, researchers reported in a January 18 paper in the journal Science.They could tell by creating the first comprehensive timeline of large craters on the Moon formed in the last billion years by using images and thermal data collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). When the scientists compared those to the timeline of Earth’s craters, they found the two bodies had recorded the same history of asteroid bombardment—one that contradicts theories about Earth’s impact rate. For More InformationSee [https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/815/nasas-moon-data-sheds-light-on-earths-asteroid-impact-history/](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/815/nasas-moon-data-sheds-light-on-earths-asteroid-impact-history/) Related pages

Diviner rock abundance data is overlaid on the lunar globe. Based on this data, the circled craters are less than one billion years old. Known impact craters younger than 650 million years are plotted on a globe of the Earth. The ages of young craters on the Moon reveal a dramatic increase in the impact rate during the last 290 million years. The rise in the impact rate found on the Moon is also visible in Earth's cratering history. A print-resolution still image of the Diviner rock abundance data overlaid on the lunar globe. The Diviner rock abundance map key. Scientists have found a new way to estimate the ages of relatively large, young craters on the Moon using data from the Diviner instrument on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The method has identified over 100 craters younger than one billion years and larger than 10 kilometers across. The ages suggest that the cratering rate has more than doubled over the last 290 million years or so.The Earth's crater record shows the same pattern. It was thought that some of the older craters were erased by weathering and geological processes, but the new Moon data suggest that the Earth record is a true reflection of the cratering rate — that the Earth has been hit more often in the recent past than it was a few hundred million years ago. For More InformationSee [NASA's Moon Data Sheds Light on Earth's Asteroid Impact History](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/815/nasas-moon-data-sheds-light-on-earths-asteroid-impact-history/) Related pages