
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/t...e-know-why
EXCERPTS: When Apollo astronauts first set foot on the lunar surface, they expected to find grey rocks and dust. What they didn't anticipate was discovering something that looked almost magical: tiny, brilliant orange glass beads scattered across the Moon's landscape like microscopic gems...
[...] The story of these glass beads begins with explosive volcanic activity that would have been spectacular to witness. The beads formed when lunar volcanoes shot material from the interior to the surface, where each drop of lava solidified instantly in the cold vacuum that surrounds the moon. Picture volcanic eruptions similar to Hawaii's famous lava fountains, but happening in the airless environment of space.
Without an atmosphere to slow them down or weather to erode them, these tiny glass spheres have remained pristine for over three billion years. For fifty years, these samples sat in laboratories waiting for technology to catch up with scientific curiosity.
Now, researchers have finally been able to peer inside the beads using advanced microscopic techniques that didn't exist during the Apollo era... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: When Apollo astronauts first set foot on the lunar surface, they expected to find grey rocks and dust. What they didn't anticipate was discovering something that looked almost magical: tiny, brilliant orange glass beads scattered across the Moon's landscape like microscopic gems...
[...] The story of these glass beads begins with explosive volcanic activity that would have been spectacular to witness. The beads formed when lunar volcanoes shot material from the interior to the surface, where each drop of lava solidified instantly in the cold vacuum that surrounds the moon. Picture volcanic eruptions similar to Hawaii's famous lava fountains, but happening in the airless environment of space.
Without an atmosphere to slow them down or weather to erode them, these tiny glass spheres have remained pristine for over three billion years. For fifty years, these samples sat in laboratories waiting for technology to catch up with scientific curiosity.
Now, researchers have finally been able to peer inside the beads using advanced microscopic techniques that didn't exist during the Apollo era... (MORE - missing details)