by: Jessica Holmes (@realtruthcactus)
Orbiting our planet 238,900 miles away, the Moon has been Earth’s companion for over four billion years, impacting our understanding of time, influencing the tides of the seas through gravity, and is an essential navigational source to many migratory organisms. And yet, our nearest neighbor seems to be undergoing a very bizarre change – it is beginning to rust.
Unusual Chemistry
Rusting is a very specific chemical reaction known as oxidation. Iron, in the presence of water and oxygen, will lose three electrons (oxidize) to make room for some oxygen atoms that have been reduced. This new compound – hydrated iron (III) oxide – also known as hematite, is what was discovered on Luna. This reaction cannot take place if both oxygen and water are absent, which is why the presence of rust on the moon is so peculiar.
While Mars may have long been known for its rusty complexion, due to its iron rice surface and the decay of the water and oxygen from its atmosphere over time, these are not the attributes we associate with the Moon. To break it down into its constituent parts, the Moon’s surface is 43% oxygen, 20% silicon, 19% magnesium, 10% iron, 3% calcium, 3% aluminum, 0.42% chromium, 0.18% titanium, and 0.12% manganese. Much of that oxygen and silicon fraction is found in the form of moon dust, which is made up of silicon dioxide glass (created by meteoroids hitting the moon). Elements like iron, calcium, and magnesium are primarily contained in minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Over the many decades of Apollo missions and sample collections from the Moon’s surface, none had found a trace of iron (III) oxide, much less water. That is, until, 2008.
The Chandrayaan-1 orbiter was the first to discover water ice on the moon’s surface in the late 2000’s, which also revealed something incredible about the composition of the moon at its poles, which turned out to be very different from the rest of the moon itself. Lead researcher and author, Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii, was fascinated by this unusual phenomenon and investigated specifically the polar spectra from Chandrayaan-1’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument, or M3, where he discovered a spectral signal with a surprisingly close match to hematite. How is it possible that the Moon, which does not have elemental oxygen or liquid water, could produce iron (III) oxide, aka rust?
Let There Be Light
The key to this mystery is found in an unusual source – light. Our nearest star, Sol, aka the Sun, has a constant output of solar wind, a massive stream of charged particles, namely protons, and magnetic fields. This intense stream of hydrogen from the sun bombards the Earth without ceasing. Fortunately, we are protected from this cacophony of light energy by the Earth’s magnetic field. However, it can, in some rare instances, leak through, triggering aurora near the poles. The Moon, however, is not so well protected.
When these solar winds, carrying hundreds of thousands of hydrogen atoms crash into the moon, they can be the catalyst for a series of reduction reactions, which makes it really hard for hematite to form since reduction (the process of adding electrons) is the opposite of oxidation (the process of losing electrons). In order for iron to rust it needs an oxidizer. So where is this oxidizer coming from?
Well, the Earth.
The Earth’s magnetic field isn’t exactly a perfect sphere, or really a sphere at all. It forms a long streaming tail, known as the magnetotail, as it is constantly bombarded with solar wind. And every four to five days in a month, the moon becomes perfectly aligned with this magnetotail, protecting it from the Sun’s solar winds. At the same time, the solar winds are siphoning off oxygen and other particles from the Earth’s atmosphere and essentially blowing an “earth wind” across the surface of the Moon. Research conducted in 2017 suggests that this earth wind implants tens of thousands of earth-born oxygen ions into the moon’s surface every second. Not only are these winds picking up oxygen-ions, but the hydrogen from the solar wind can react with those oxygen ions to produce, you guessed it, water.
“Our hypothesis is that lunar hematite is formed through oxidation of lunar surface iron by the oxygen from the Earth’s upper atmosphere that has been continuously blown to the lunar surface by solar wind when the Moon is in Earth’s magnetotail during the past several billion years,” said Shuai Li. This statement from Li was supported by research as of last year, but there are still many questions remaining about this very strange astronomical phenomenon. Namely, if this process has been happening for billions of years, why are we just discovering it now?
A Blood Moon
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood…
– Revelation 6:12
Such is the prophecy of John the Elder when he was given a vision by God about the end of the world. Many such signs of end times have cropped up within recent years, from the evaporation of the Euphrates River (Rev. 16:12), massive earthquakes in Turkey, and now this new phenomenon of the moon rusting. Jesus said in Matthew 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah”. Many in this day have interpreted this passage to be that Christians should not be wary of the signs of the times and lest they fall into wickedness. However, the Bible is a book of prophecy. To ignore signs and wonders, as Hugh Cunningham once said, would be foolish.
Who knows what the future holds or the meaning of this new discovery about the moon. Is the rusting of the moon a certain indicator that the apocalypse is upon us? No. Certainly not in and of itself. But this discovery, alongside many others, does point us towards an interesting time. It is important for Christians and scientists alike to stay abreast of developments in space and science to be waiting and aware of what God might reveal to us in His glorious creation.