Evidence of water from deep under the lunar crust have been found in the central peaks of Bullialdus Crater, indicating that water was there when the moon was formed.
According to the study, the moon probably had water when it first formed four and a half billion years ago, Discovery News reported.
Research found evidence of water that was brought to the surface from deep within the lunar mantle by a series of ancient impacts.
Study�s lead author Rachel Klima of Johns Hopkins University thinks that it would be very tough to have this water be anywhere other than original to the material that formed the moon.
She doesn�t think this was cometary water that was somehow mixed in and excavated back out, or solar wind water, but believes that this had to be water that was initially there when the materials forming the moon accreted.
The new water signatures, in the form of hydroxyl molecules, were detected in the central peak of Bullialdus Crater on the moon�s near side, according to Klima.
Hydroxyls are molecules consisting of an oxygen atom connected to a hydrogen atom. The pairing is often seen as a substructure of a water molecule.
The study is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. (ANI)