The Moon has telluric movements. That is a fact that has been detected from Earththanks to the tools that space agencies have put on our natural satellite. Finding the origin of these earthquakes or tremors is complex for scientists.
There are studies that say that millions of years ago there were volcanic eruptions on the Moon. Then, the tectonic plates beneath these surfaces would be responsible for the tremors in the round ball that illuminates us at night.
And although this is a theory that still has strong arguments, There were other small tremors that had scientists clutching their heads, wondering where they came from or how they originated.. Several hypotheses were raised about this until a team from the University of California, Berkeleyhit the nail on the head: It’s all NASA’s fault.
The research of this team of experts finds evidence that an abandoned Apollo spacecraft on the Moon is causing small earthquakes. The study, published in the journal Nature, was based on data from seismographs installed on the Moon by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The study records calculations showing that earthquakes occur in an area around the Apollo 12 spacecraft, which was launched in 1969. These are small tremors with magnitudes between 2.5 and 3.5, but they are large enough to be detected by seismographs.
What do scientists say? They conclude that the tremors are being caused by the heating and cooling of the Apollo spacecraft. The ship is made of steel, which is a good conductor of heat. When the ship is heated by the sun, it expands. When it cools, it contracts. This process of expansion and contraction is causing the ground around the ship to move, causing earthquakes.
“The lunar surface is an extreme environment, ranging between -208 degrees Fahrenheit (-133 degrees Celsius) in the dark and 250 degrees Fahrenheit (121 degrees Celsius) under direct sunlight,” the experts explained, according to the report. Cnn in Spanish.