20 Times the Moon Did Something Scientists Didn’t Expect

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted fault lines — wrinkles across the Moon’s face. It wasn’t erosion. It was contraction. The Moon is cooling, tightening like an old drum, creaking under its own weight. We thought it was static; instead, it’s aging visibly, beautifully — a cosmic fruit drying in time’s grasp. Its slow transformation

reminds us that even silence has tectonic depth, and even decay can be a kind of grace. Future missions plan to monitor these “moonquakes” more closely.