Scientists believe moon is 40 million years older than first thought

Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Scientists now believe the moon could actually be around 40 million years older than initially believed, according to new research.

The finding comes after a group of researchers reexamined a collection of dust collected from the lunar surface and brought back to Earth in 1972, the last time astronauts visited the moon.

Scientists took an in-depth look at crystals embedded within the dust, which was returned to Earth as part of NASA's Apollo 17 mission.

Researchers believe a massive collision of debris with Earth led to the creation of the moon. That impact took place around 100 million years after the solar system's formation and led to a large concentration of material being propelled into the atmosphere, creating our planet's moon.

Initially molten hot, the energy from the collision cooled, allowing scientists to measure and calculate age based on analysis of the crystals in the lunar dust.

"Because we know how old these crystals are, they serve as an anchor for the lunar chronology," study co-author and University of Chicago professor Philipp Heck said in a statement.

The moon was initially thought to be around 4.42 billion years old.

Research, which also involved the University of Glasgow, now puts that age at approximately 4.46 billion years.

"These findings require pushing the timing of the solidification of the lunar crust to within at least the first 100 Myr of the formation of the solar system and provide a minimum age for the Giant Impact event that formed the Earth-Moon system," the study's authors wrote in their findings, published in the journal Geochemical Perspectives Letters.

"This age pushes back the age of the first preserved lunar crust by ∼40 [million years] and provides a minimum formation age for the moon within 110 [million years] after the formation of the solar system."

Through its Artemis Program, NASA hopes to return a team of astronauts to the moon in 2025.