“I bring news from the Moon!” Orak announced as he entered the dorm room, “Volcanoes were erupting on the Moon till very recently. In a new study, scientists found that the eruptions took place two billion years ago. This is news because scientists believed the volcanoes had stopped erupting long, long ago!”
“There were volcanoes on the Moon? I did not know that!” Scorch exclaimed.
Orak nodded eagerly. He explained, “A volcano is an opening in the surface of the Earth. This opening is found in the mountains. When a volcano erupts, hot gasses, ash, and magma (hot, melted rock) from deep inside the Earth come to the surface.
Billions of years ago, the same thing happened on the Moon too.”
“How come the scientists didn’t find this out earlier,” questioned Felix.
“Earth’s Moon is a tiny celestial body. It has a rocky surface and such small celestial bodies cool down sooner. This made the scientists believe there were no more volcanoes on the Moon,” Orak answered.
“But the volcanoes didn’t stop?” Verum said.
“They didn’t!” Orak said.
“Scientists could find this out thanks to the Moon rock samples collected by Chang’E-5 in 2020. The samples had some elements that melted very easily. So, these elements set off volcanoes on the Moon for many more years,” Orak said.
“Who is Chang-E, Orak? Did you make a new friend?” Felix said.
“No, you silly Pixie,” Orak giggled, “Chang’E-5 is the name of China’s latest Moon mission.”