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：探索)
Despite IOC ban, Rio crowds get their political messages across
Sheryl Sandberg at MIT: 'It's hard knowing that you let people down'
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope won't launch until at least 2021
The hang loose emoji is everywhere thanks to the existential dread that is 2018This weird squid looks like it has googly eyes, guysOlympics official on Rio's green diving pool: 'Chemistry is not an exact science'
The diving pool for the Summer Olympics mysteriously turned green this week in Rio de Janeiro, then
...[详细]
Hey, Marco Rubio. Shut the fuck up.Just. Shut. The. Fuck. Up.Tweet may have been deletedFlorida Sena
...[详细]New MacOS 10.14 features appear to leak ahead of WWDC 2018
It wouldn't be a huge annual trade show without a few appetite-whetting leaks.Just a few short days
...[详细]Steve Trevor is coming back for 'Wonder Woman 2'
Wonder Womandirector Patty Jenkins announced Wednesday morning the game-changing return of Chris Pin
...[详细]Over 82,000 evacuate as Blue Cut fire rapidly spreads in southern California
A rapidly spreading wildfire in southern California's Cajon Pass has grown in hot, dry weather, thre
...[详细]Finally, a meme that combines our two main interests: crying and the Nae Nae
If you've got existential dread to spare and a love for heart-wrenching lyrics, the Crying Nae Nae i
...[详细]McDonald's is ditching plastic straws in the UK and Ireland
The days of sipping your milkshake through a plastic straw at McDonald's are almost over -- at least
...[详细]Uber is hard at work at offering more than one mode of transportation
European cities have been overrun with bike-sharing programs from companies like LimeBike, Mobike, a
...[详细]Here's what 'Game of Thrones' actors get up to between takes
Warning: Contains some mild Season 6 spoilers right at the end (the video is spoiler-free). 。LONDON -
...[详细]NFL kicker unleashes his full power on family kickball game
Ugh. Dads. Always showing off their professional football skills because heaven forbid you let your
...[详细]PlayStation Now game streaming is coming to PC
These are the three most awkward minutes in local news ever seen
