Update: Lopsided ice on the moon points to past shift in poles
By Eric HandMar. 23, 2016 , 2:00 PM
Today, scientists announced that the spin axis of the moon is about 6° different than it was billions of years ago, based on evidence of off-kilter polar ice deposits. Science first reported on this story last year when the scientists presented the research at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.
THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS—What little ice remains on Mercury and Mars is mostly confined to the planets’ poles, as one would expect, because the sun shines the least in those regions. Not so on the moon. Much of the moon’s ice, which lurks beneath the surface, is found in an area 5.5° away from the north pole and in a matching region 5.5° from the south pole, scientists announced here this week at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. The data suggest that in the past, the moon’s axis of rotation—and hence its poles—shifted.
