Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
Strange Orange Soil on the Moon
Explanation:
How did orange soil appear on the Moon? This mystery began [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…http://www.hq.nasa.…] when astronaut Harrison Schmidt [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…http://www.hq.nasa.…] noticed the off-color patch near Apollo 17 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]'s Taurus-Littrow [ http://cass.jsc.nas…] landing site in 1972. Schmidt and fellow astronaut Eugene Cernan [ http://www.hq.nasa.…] scooped up some of the unusual orange soil [ http://www.hq.nasa.…] for detailed inspection back on Earth. Pictured above [ http://images.jsc.n…] is a return sample shown greatly magnified, with its discovery location shown in the inset [ http://images.jsc.n…]. The orange soil [ http://www.lpi.usra…] contains particles less than 0.1 millimeter across, some of the smallest particles yet found on the Moon [ http://www.nasm.edu…]. Lunar geologists now think that the orange soil [ http://www.solarvie…] was created during an ancient fire-fountain [ http://www.solarvie…]. Detailed chemical and dating analyses indicate [ http://adsabs.harva…] that during an explosive volcanic eruption 3.64 billion years ago, small drops [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of molten rock cooled rapidly into the nearly spherical colored grains. The origin of some of the unusual elements found in the soil [ http://curator.jsc.…], however, remains unknown.
Credit and Copyright:
Apollo 17 Crew [ http://www.ksc.nasa…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]
keyword:
Moon
keyword:
orange soil
keyword:
Apollo 17
facet_when:
1972
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Johnson Space Center (JSC)
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Moon
facet_what:
Taurus
facet_what:
Apollo 17
facet_what:
moon
facet_when_year:
1972
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap010523

Strange Orange Soil on the Moon
Add To Workspace Export