Something big is lurking under the moon's deepest crater, and fans of video game Destinycan't stop talking about it.
An anomaly, which astronomers believe to be metal, is hiding under the South Pole-Aitken basin, and could be lodged as deep as far as 300 kilometres (186 miles) under the surface. The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters.
"Imagine taking a pile of metal five times larger than the Big Island of Hawaii and burying it underground. That’s roughly how much unexpected mass we detected," the study's lead author, Peter B. James, said in a statement.
The Twitter account for video game series Destiny, had something to say about the mystery which was lurking below.
Tweet may have been deleted
The news story also got the attention of Destinyfans online.
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
To explain, it's largely in relation to the recent announcement of the Destiny 2: Shadowkeep expansion, which is set on the moon.
As you'll spot in the trailer, the moon isn't a great place to be, where "new nightmares have emerged from the shadows of our long-forgotten moon." Really, the research about the moon mass was a great bit of timing.
The mass could've possibly been from an asteroid which crashed into the moon's surface and formed the crater, which was created an estimated 4 billion years ago.
Researchers were measuring the subtle changes of gravity around the moon, when they discovered the mass which sat underneath its surface.
“When we combined that with lunar topography data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we discovered the unexpectedly large amount of mass hundreds of miles underneath the South Pole-Aitken basin," James added. "
"One of the explanations of this extra mass is that the metal from the asteroid that formed this crater is still embedded in the Moon’s mantle."
Whatever the mass might be, it's weighing down the basin's floor by half a mile. The crater, as James notes, is "one of the best natural laboratories for studying catastrophic impact events, an ancient process that shaped all of the rocky planets and moons we see today."
Even though it's huge, the crater can't be seen from Earth -- as it resides on the dark (or more accurately, far) side of the moon.
With the exception of Destinyfans, maybe.
(责任编辑：知識)
Visualizing July's astounding global temperature records
The 8 best investing app alternatives to Robinhood
Gen Z doesn't own the middle part. No one does.
Startup shows off electric car batteries that charge in 5 minutesThis coloring book is here for all your relationship goalsHiddleswift finally followed each other on Instagram after 3 excruciating days
On Aug. 13, 1961, Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall, perhaps the greatest symbol of the
...[详细]Lime adds electric mopeds to its fleet
Lime has added electric mopeds to its fleet of green shared vehicles — and you'll need a drive
...[详细]'To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You' was cute, but we must talk about the ending
Welcome toFix It, our weekly series examining projects we love — save for one tiny change we w
...[详细]Startup shows off electric car batteries that charge in 5 minutes
Start a conversation about electric cars, and it'll likely take less than five minutes until someone
...[详细]Make money or go to Stanford? Katie Ledecky is left with an unfair choice.
This is Katie Ledecky's world right now, and the rest of us are just living in it. Want proof? Ledec
...[详细]Get a sneek peek at the snazzy cover and excerpt for this Mashable writer's debut novel
When not churning out killer TV, film, and game reviews for this website every day, Mashable's Senio
...[详细]Elon Musk passes Jeff Bezos as world's richest person
Elon Musk just became the world's richest person, snagging the title away from Jeff Bezos by only 1
...[详细]Get a COVID vaccine early, but it comes with a side shot of guilt
In the late afternoon on a Wednesday in February, a middle-aged woman wearing a ruffled business top
...[详细]Olympian celebrates by ordering an intimidating amount of McDonald's
It's no secret that Olympians have to eat clean for years to ensure they're at peak physical conditi
...[详细]Google disables Great Suspender extension, says it 'contains malware'
The Great Suspender just got expelled. Users of the popular tab-management extension for Chrome were
...[详细]Satisfy your Olympics withdrawals with Nike's latest app
Facebook's Australian news ban extends to weather, and government info
