(NewsNation) — New research performed on a rock collected during the Apollo 17 mission indicates the moon may be older than scientists previously thought by millions of years.

Scientists analyzed zircon crystals in the sample, collected in 1972, using techniques that weren’t available at the time the sample was returned to Earth. The research puts the moon’s new age at 4.46 billion years old, 40 million years older than previously thought.

How the moon was formed may seem like a question science should already have answered. The main theory is that the moon is a result of a collision between a planet-sized object called Theia and primordial Earth during the early days of the solar system. The impact sent magma into space, where it coalesced into the moon, trapped by Earth’s gravitational pull.

The new analysis would mean the moon formed around 108 million years after the birth of our solar system.

Understanding when and how the moon formed can help scientists better understand how Earth developed into a habitable planet. The moon influences key factors for Earth, including slowing Earth’s rotational speed and stabilizing our planet so a stable climate could develop.

The latest findings could present a problem for science, as other samples appear to be only 4.35 billion years old. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the ages are incorrect; it’s possible that the transition from magma to solid material took place over millions of years, resulting in rocks of different ages.

As for the moon’s new age, scientists caution that it could still change as more samples are collected, leaving the possibility for even older samples to be discovered.