The amount of water on the moon may be much less than previously thought due to a miscalculation caused by a mineral called apatite.

Scientists from UCLA reported in a press release the development of a new computer model that can accurately determine how apatite would have crystalized early in the moon's history. The new study, published in the journal Science, has found that these crystals probably did not form in a water-rich environment.

"The mineral apatite is the most widely used method for estimating the amount of water in lunar rocks, but it cannot be trusted," lead researcher Jeremy Boyce, an adjunct assistant professor in the UCLA College of Letters and Science, said in the release. "Our new results show that there is not as much water in lunar magma as apatite would have us believe."

Until 2010, it was generally believed that the moon did not have any water until the discovery of apatite and its apparent hydrogen makeup. Boyce's new study suggests apatite's hydrogen levels are deceptive and not a result of a water-rich environment. Instead, he believes the hydrogen comes from having a unique crystallization process.

"Early-forming apatite is so fluorine-rich that it vacuums all the fluorine out of the magma, followed by chlorine," Boyce said. "Apatite that forms later doesn't see any fluorine or chlorine and becomes hydrogen-rich because it has no choice."

This creates a fools gold effect, in a way. When the apatite exhausts all of its fluorine and chlorine, the cooling magma reflects a mineral rich with hydrogen without actually representing accurate water levels.

"We had 40 years of believing in a dry moon, and now we have some evidence that the old dry model of the moon wasn't perfect," Boyce said. "However, we need to be cautious and look carefully at each piece of evidence before we decide that rocks on the moon are as wet as those on Earth."

Despite being so close by, Boyce hopes his study will prove how little scientists know for sure about the moon.

"We're knocking out one of the most important pillars of evidence regarding the conditions of the formation and evolution of the moon," Boyce said. "Next, we plan to determine how badly apatite has distorted our view of the moon and how we can best see past it to get at the moon's origin."