Study: Moon's 'wandering poles' tilted billions of years ago

Telltale patches of icy water on opposite ends of the moon reveal that Earth's orbiting companion once spun on a different axis, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The six-degree tilt, which happened several billion years ago, was likely caused by an ancient volcanic formation on the near side of the moon, said the study, published in Nature.

The data underlying this startling discovery has been in plain view for nearly two decades, but scientists had failed to connect the dots, one of the researchers told AFP.