Grail's view of the Moon's gravity field Grail's Moon view: Reds correspond to mass excesses which create areas of higher local gravity, and blues correspond to mass deficits which create areas of lower local gravity.



The scale of the battering the Moon received early in its history has been revealed in remarkable new data from two Nasa satellites.

Ebb and Flow - together known as the Grail mission - have mapped the subtle variations in gravity across the surface of the lunar body.

They show the Moon's crust to be a mass of pulverised rock - the remains of countless impacts.

Scientists say the beating was far more extensive than previously thought.

And this observation, they add, has relevance for the study of the Earth's ancient past.

It too would have been pummelled in the first billion years of its existence by the left-over debris from the construction of the planets.
Moon's gravity

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20617506