Although it is the closest celestial body to us, the moon still harbors secrets aplenty. “Closest,” of course, is a relative term: The great gray and white orb in our sky never veers much nearer than 225,000 miles (362,000 kilometers), and getting there is no easy feat, especially in the case of manned missions. No human has left boot prints in the lunar regolith since 1972. So, the Moon is a mystery that is definitely worth a closer look.



One of the Moon’s most enduring mysteries is the lack of its magnetic field—which proved to be a real problem when the moon rocks the Astronauts brought back in the 1960s and 1970s were found to be magnetic. Were they of alien origin? How could they be magnetic if the it wasn’t? What was going on?

Science has since found out that the Moon actually used to have a magnetic field. The jury is still out on what exactly caused it to vanish, but there are two leading theories. One team of researchers thinks it’s because of the natural stirring movements of it’s iron core, while another posits it may have something to do with a series of impacts with large space rocks.