China's Lunar Rover Spots See-Through Glass Beads On The Moon
China’s lunar rover has spotted something incredible: A pair of glass globules that are significantly larger than glass beads that are usually found on the Moon's surface, and they also happen to be translucent, which is yet another interesting feature. Now, the lunar regolith is no alien to glass-like substances, which were created as a result of volcanism and high-velocity impact from objects that hit the Earth's sole natural satellite in the past.
When a high-velocity object like an asteroid hits the lunar surface, the impact leads to a burst of high temperature that melts some of the lunar material around it, which eventually cools down and takes a glassy appearance. However, condensation of impact vapor can also lead to the formation of glass. Earlier this year, the rover also discovered a green gel-like material that is thought to have originated from impact melt breccia.
Related: Researchers Have Uncovered A ‘Treasure Map’ For Future Moon Exploration
Continuing its hot streak, the Yutu-2 rover has now sent photos of two translucent glass globules that it spotted on the moon. Glassy material on the moon is usually found over basaltic rocks or in the form of spheres that are smaller than 1 millimeter in diameter, while a majority of them measure about 300 microns on average. The spheres spotted by Yutu-2’s onboard panorama camera are of centimeter scale. In addition to spherical glass globules, the rover has also spotted dumbbell-shaped glass objects that have a light brownish color, but those need more observation data to confirm. As per the mission report, glass globules of that size haven’t been observed on the Moon so far. Moreover, the color science of these glasses is different. The findings have been
Read more on screenrant.com
