Apollo 17 rock samples reveal Moon’s ‘real age’

Recent analysis of Moon rocks brought back by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 suggests that the Moon is 4.46 billion years old, 40 million years older than previously believed. This new estimate places the Moon’s formation approximately 108 million years after the solar system came into existence. Philipp Heck, a study co-author and a professor at the University of Chicago, said in a statement, “Without the moon, life on Earth would look different.”