Researchers analyzed lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-6, the first spacecraft to return with a haul of rocks and dirt from the little-explored far side.

China's Chang'e-6 robotic spacecraft in June made history by retrieving the first surface samples from the far side of the moon, which perpetually faces away from Earth. That material is now providing new insight into the moon's geological history including the oldest evidence to date of lunar volcanism.

Volcanoes were erupting on the mysterious far side of the moon billions of years ago just like on the side that we can see, new research confirms. Researchers analyzed lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-6,

New research shows that volcanoes erupted on the far side of the moon billions of years ago, mirroring activity on the near side.

Volcanoes were erupting on the mysterious far side of the moon billions of years ago - Volcanic rock dated back to 4.2 billion years

After analyzing the sample brought by Chang'e-6, researchers found that the moon’s oldest and deepest crater on its far side was volcanically active around 2.8 billion years ago.