Volcanoes gave Moon an atmosphere

Ancient volcanic eruptions on the Moon produced a temporary lunar atmosphere four billion years ago, according to the latest analysis of Apollo moonrocks.

Today, any gases from geological activity on the Moon are lost to space at a far greater rate than they are produced, but during the Moon’s peak volcanic activity enough gas was produced to accumulate an atmosphere that lasted about 70 million years.

“Although much of this vapour would have been lost to space, a significant fraction may have made its way to the lunar poles. This means some of the volatiles we see at the lunar poles may have originated inside the Moon,” says Debra H Needham from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre. www.nasa.gov

Three billion years ago lava flooded across the regions shown in red; purple regions are one billion years older