Moon (Photo : REUTERS/NASA/HANDOUT)
Researchers from Brown University released new evidence about the enigmatic bright regions dispersed on the surface of the moon or popularly known as lunar swirls.
Astronomers have used state-of-the-art computer simulations to show the dynamics of comet impacts on lunar soil and how its gases lead to the blowing off the smallest grains above the lunar soil. The simulation can also explain the features of the enigmatic swirls.
These swirls can extend for thousands of miles across the surface of the moon and it is described as reflectivity that makes it look like lunar dirt or known as young regolith. Swirls’ flowing shape is frequently highlighted by Regions of low reflectivity between the bright swirls frequently highlighted the shape of it. One popular swirl located at the hidden far side of the moon is called Reiner Gamma and can only be seen via telescopes, Earth Sky reported.
Researchers believed that these swirls may have formed rocks below it and possibly holds residue of magnetism from the past. They suggest that magnetic fields turn aside the barrage of the solar wind, slowly dimming the surface of the moon and making the swirl more stunning, as per the report of Red Orbit.
Swirls do not appear to be large impact craters or part of any topography at first look. Peter Schultz, lead researcher and planetary geoscientist at Brown University, said that they look like a finger-painted in the moon surface.
The study also uncovered that iron-rich particles on the moon surface are melted because of the impact and then cooled down; it indicates the presence of any nearby magnetic field.
