The Moon has been a subject of awe and fascination for millennia, with its shape-shifting powers and enigmatic dark side. And though it’s the one celestial body on which man has taken (small) steps, we still have big leaps to go in understanding its potential and uncovering its secrets. However, one hidden feature of the Moon has been unearthed by scientists and it’s very, very big, and very, very heavy. Buried beneath its South Pole-Aitken basin – one of the largest preserved craters in the Solar System – is a structure which weighs at least 2.18 billion kilogrammes and measures more than 300km (186 miles) in depth and 2,000km (1,243 miles) in length. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The researchers who made the discovery, all based in the US, posited that the “anomaly” could be made out of metal from the core of an asteroid or oxides from the crystallisation of a magma ocean. "One of the explanations of this extra mass is that the metal from the asteroid that formed this crater is still embedded in the Moon's mantle,” lead author Peter B. James, from Houston’s Baylor University, said in a statement shared with IFLScience. Illustrating just how gigantic this thing is, he went on: "Imagine taking a pile of metal five times larger than the Big Island of Hawaii and burying it underground. That's roughly how much unexpected mass we detected.” The groundbreaking finding was made thanks to NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, which measures changes in the Moon’s gravitational field. Data collected by GRAIL can then be used to study the internal composition of our cratered companion. The South Pole-Aitken Basin has been at the centre of numerous investigations because of just how unique it is. The region offers clues both on the interior composition of our closest satellite and its history, and who knows what other mysteries it holds... Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Bryan Randall died on August 5 after a private three-year battle with ALS, a neurological disease

By Fabian Hamacher TAOYUAN, Taiwan (Reuters) -Taiwan Vice President William Lai left on Saturday for a sensitive trip to the

How old Klee is from Genshin Impact, based on her speculated age.

By Ben Blanchard and Jan Schwartz TAIWAN Volkswagen said it is monitoring the situation on metals markets after

Germany has appointed a senior lawmaker with one of the country’s governing parties as its new ambassador to Russia, handing him the delicate diplomatic post as tensions spiral over Moscow’s war in Ukraine

'Love Island USA' Season 5 fans speculate Mike Stark was eliminated for slamming Sarah Hyland

Oracle sank 9% on Tuesday, after a weak forecast suggested strong competition in the cloud-computing industry and a

Hideo Kojima has announced that he is teaming up with Apple to release 'Death Stranding Director's Cut' on Mac.

Donald Trump is planning to attend the Monday opening of New York state’s civil trial accusing him of

A growing number of Capitol rioters are facing hefty fines on top of prison sentences at their sentencing hearings

Just five years ago, lip injections seemed like a huge deal. When talking about it people used references like Kylie Jenner and Lisa Rinna because they had some of the most obviously-enhanced lips in pop culture. Now, though, the topic of lip filler seems a lot more casual — especially on TikTok.