WHILE apparently airless and lifeless, something is taking place on the Moon which is causing concern among scientists, that of a large expanding crack.

With the Moon seemingly of new interest to humankind as a possible base from which we can reach out to Mars, all is not as quiet as we thought with our nearest companion.

Sensors left by the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, are being used to make an analysis of a powerful shock that has taken place on the lunar surface, a shock so powerful it would have caused damage to buildings on Earth.

The result is a crack in the Moon, a crack that is continuing to expand.

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While cracks and fissures on the Moon, which is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old, are not uncommon, such findings cast doubt over the possible future construction of buildings on the lunar surface.

Meanwhile, with Mars still close-by to Earth making for excellent observing, longtime astrophotographer Maximilian Teodorescu from Romania has spotted a strange dark streak on the red planet, near to the summit of a extinct volcano, Arsia Mons.

The streak, some 372 miles long, may well be cloud or a streamer of dust, with other possibilities such as an avalanche or landslide also being considered.