These Glistening Glass Beads on the Moon Likely Came From Ancient Lunar Volcanoes

These Glistening Glass Beads on the Moon Likely Came From Ancient Lunar Volcanoes

Learn more about these shimmery, orange and black beads on the moon that researchers describe as “tiny, pristine” time capsules.

Ancient moon volcanoes made tiny glass beads. Here's what they mean.

Tiny glass beads brought back by NASA's Apollo 17 astronauts are helping scientists uncover new clues about how the moon erupted billions of years ago. No one expected these glittering bits among the gray lunar dust back then. The beads, smaller than grains of sand, formed when ancient lunar volcanoes spewed molten rock. That rock quickly cooled and hardened into smooth glass in the cold vacuum of space. Now, using modern tools that weren't avai…

Is There a Trillion Dollars’ Worth of Platinum on the Moon?

You view the Moon as the Earth’s nightlight. Astrophysicist Jayanth Chennamangalam looks at it the way in old-timey California prospector viewed them thar hills—a gold mine. Well, not literally a gold mine. More like a platinum mine. $1 trillion worth of platinum, and other valuable metals, like iridium, palladium, and several others you remember hearing when you played Mass Effect, and all hiding in around 6,500 of the Moon’s craters. In a pape…

Tiny glass beads could reveal the Moon's secret history

You might see the Moon as a grey, lifeless orb that orbits our planet each day. However, many researchers believe that the Moon is more alive than we believe. Further, they believe that the Moon's secret history could help us learn more about how it formed billions of years ago. While it might look grey from afar, the Moon is actually home to thousands (maybe even millions) of tiny glass beads. These beads, astronomers say, could actually help u…