双语新闻：科学家表示:月球比最初认为的要老4000万年

Scientists say a mineral found in moon dust suggests Earth's moon is 40 million years older than scientists had believed.

科学家表示，在月球尘埃中发现的一种矿物质表明，月球比科学家认为的要早4000万年。

The finding was made by researchers who examined moon samples gathered by astronauts from the lunar surface in 1972 – the last time humans walked on the moon. The samples were part of a collection of 110 kilograms of dust and rock returned to Earth for scientific study.

这一发现是研究人员对1972年宇航员从月球表面采集的月球样本进行研究后得出的，1972年是人类最后一次在月球上行走。这些样本是返回地球进行科学研究的110公斤尘埃和岩石的一部分。

The American space agency NASA says the leading theory on how the moon formed involves a huge crash. NASA says a Mars-sized object likely crashed into Earth and released material from both objects, which formed the moon.

美国宇航局表示，关于月球形成的主要理论涉及一次巨大的撞击。美国国家航空航天局表示，一个火星大小的物体可能撞上了地球，并从两个物体中释放出物质，形成了月球。

But the exact timing of when the moon was created has been difficult to identify. A new study based on the 1972 samples suggests the moon formed about 4.46 billion years ago.

但月球形成的确切时间一直难以确定。一项基于1972年样本的新研究表明，月球形成于44.6亿年前。

The research was led by a team from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. The findings were recently published in a study in Geochemical Perspective Letters.

这项研究是由伊利诺斯州芝加哥菲尔德自然历史博物馆的一个团队领导的。这些发现最近发表在《地球化学展望快报》的一项研究中。

The study examined small crystals found in the lunar dust. The team said the crystals contained a mineral called zircon. The zircon is believed to have formed when the lunar surface cooled after being in a melting state after the crash.

这项研究检查了在月球尘埃中发现的小晶体。研究小组表示，这些晶体含有一种叫做锆石的矿物。锆石被认为是在月球表面在撞击后处于融化状态后冷却时形成的。

The method used to estimate the age of the dust sample is called atom probe tomography. This method had not been developed when the sample was collected 51 years ago, said Philipp Heck. He is the lead writer of the study and the senior director of research at the Field Museum of Natural History.

用来估计尘埃样本年龄的方法叫做原子探针断层扫描。菲利普·赫克说，51年前采集样本时，这种方法还没有被开发出来。他是这项研究的主要作者，也是菲尔德自然历史博物馆的高级研究主任。

NASA said the lunar sample was collected from an area known as the Taurus-Littrow valley on the near side of the moon. The near side of the moon is the side that always faces Earth. The sample had been stored at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

美国宇航局表示，月球样本是从月球近侧的金牛座-利特罗山谷收集的。月球的近面总是面向地球。该样本被储存在美国宇航局位于德克萨斯州休斯顿的约翰逊航天中心。

Heck noted that zircon is a very strong mineral that can "survive the breakdown of rocks during weathering."

赫克指出，锆石是一种非常坚固的矿物，可以“在风化过程中幸存下来”。

The new study followed an earlier one carried out in 2021. In that study, researchers examined how many atoms of uranium and lead were contained in the zircon crystals. They then estimated the age of the mineral based on differences in the decay of the radioactive uranium to lead over time.

这项新研究是在2021年进行的一项早期研究之后进行的。在那项研究中，研究人员检查了锆石晶体中含有多少铀和铅原子。然后，他们根据放射性铀对铅的衰变随时间的不同来估计这种矿物的年龄。

But the purpose of the new study was to confirm the earlier study's results, which were not considered conclusive. The examinations of the sample material were carried out atom-by-atom with very sensitive instruments, the researchers said.

但这项新研究的目的是证实早期研究的结果，而这些结果并不被认为是决定性的。研究人员说，样品材料的检测是用非常灵敏的仪器一个原子一个原子地进行的。

Jennika Greer is a researcher in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She helped lead the study. Greer told Reuters news agency the finding is "a great example of what the nanoscale, or even atomic scale, can tell us about big-picture questions."

珍妮卡·格里尔是苏格兰格拉斯哥大学地理与地球科学学院的研究员。她帮助领导了这项研究。格里尔告诉路透社，这一发现是“纳米尺度，甚至是原子尺度，可以告诉我们大问题的一个很好的例子。”

Heck, from the Field Museum, said the huge crash that formed the moon was a major event that changed Earth's rotational speed. He added, "The formation date of the moon is important as only after that Earth became a habitable planet."

菲尔德博物馆的赫克说，形成月球的巨大撞击是改变地球自转速度的重大事件。他补充说，“月球的形成日期很重要，因为只有在那之后，地球才成为可居住的行星。”

Greer said she hopes the team's finding can be a basis for answering many remaining questions about the moon. "It's amazing being able to have proof that the rock you're holding is the oldest bit of the Moon we've found so far." She added, "When you know how old something is, you can better understand what has happened to it in its history."

格里尔说，她希望该团队的发现可以成为回答关于月球的许多遗留问题的基础。“能够证明你手中的岩石是我们迄今为止发现的最古老的月球碎片，这真是太神奇了。”她补充说，“当你知道某样东西有多古老时，你就能更好地了解它在历史上发生了什么。”