Scientists from Curtin University in Western Australia said on Tuesday they've identified a possible 280 additional craters on the Moon, according to reports.
With the combined gravity and topography data collected by satellites, the researchers were able to use computer modeling to identify two basins on the far side of the Moon.
"There are many more [craters] that have been mapped from optical observations or from just the shape of the topography," researcher Will Featherstone told AFP.
The scientists developed a high-resolution image to find a total of 280 "candidate basins" which they suspect are craters.
"So there's many, many craters that were already known, we've just been able to apply this technique to enhance the ones that aren't so easy to see," Featherstone told AFP. "What we have been able to use is the topography and the gravity together to get a stronger indication that there is something there that needs further investigation."
Featherstone told the AFP that scientists looked at the lunar surface on the near and far sides of the Moon, "the dark side being more challenging because satellites cannot be tracked from Earth when they are on that side."
Scientist used data gathered from a prior mission n order to collect information from the dark side of the Moon.
"So when the satellite orbiting the Moon went behind the far side and they couldn't be seen from Earth, they could be seen by other satellites," Featherstone said.
Researchers said they classified 66 of the 280 possible new craters as distinctly visible according to gravity and topography.
"Scientists can, instead of looking at every square inch of the Moon looking for basins, they can target these areas," Featherstone said. "It just helps investigations of the Moon and the history of the Moon and the solar system."
