Scientists have confirmed evidence of two freshly made craters on the dark side of the moon. This new study reveals how these young craters on our natural satellite are aged between 16 million years old and 75 to 420 million years old.

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These new findings by a team of researchers from the Southwest Research Institute, were obtained from data collected from the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) instrument aboard the NASA  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

This NASA probe utilizes ultraviolet wavelengths to map out lunar terrain where the team discovered two new sites that possessed brighter and rougher impacts, near the moon's southern polar region. The team also says that these craters are estimated to be several kilometers across that are produced by collisions from flying objects that smashed into the moon's surface during the early stages of the solar system's development.

These craters are also ideal specimens to study, in order to shed more light about the evolution of the solar system and the planets as well. According to senior scientist Kathleen Mandt from the Southwest Research Institute, these "young" impact craters are such an exciting discovery, where the ages of these geologically young impact craters along with their distinct characteristics can further help in the understanding of the solar system's history.

Apart from their age, the geological data from these craters can also provide crucial information about the frequency of these collisions during this time in the solar system.  A young crater's surface contains rough rubble remnants and condensed dust that have been covered with darker dust from weathering in the course of millions of years.

Mandt explains that these two craters provide an incredible opportunity to investigate young craters that are hidden in the mysterious regions of the moon. This new technique is not only applicable to our moon but it can also be applied to other planetary bodies like Mercury, the dwarf planet Ceres and asteroid Vesta, which are both in the major asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

This new study is published in the journal, Icarus.

Tagsmoon, two new craters moon, lunar craters, impact craters, craters moon, dark side of the moon, NASA