A new study from NASA's GRAIL mission showed that the man in the moon was likely created not by an asteroid strike but rather by a series of large volcanic plumes from the moon's interior.

Researchers mapped the man on the moon using the data obtained by Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), a lunar science mission under NASA's discovery program that uses high-quality gravitational field mapping to determine the interior structure of the Moon.

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The "man on the moon" can be found in a giant basin around 1,800 miles in diameter in the Procellarum region that can be found on the near side of the moon.

The research team from MIT, the Colorado School of Mines and other institutions found that the region's borders are composed of sharp angles that could not have been created by a massive asteroid.

They explained that the outline was probably produced by giant tension cracks in the moon's crust that cooled down after an upwelling plume of hot material.

Maria Zuber, one of the researchers, said that when cracks occurred they formed a plumbing system in the moon's crust where magma could reach the surface.

She said that from their mapping, researchers found out that the Procellarum region is composed of edges made up of 120-degree angles.

Zuber also noted that their mapping showed angular shapes that could not have been caused by an asteroid impact. 

The plume still remains a mystery. However, researchers believe that this could have been due to a radioactive decay of heat-producing elements in the moon's deep interior.