Fifty Year Old Moon Mystery Explained 43
ekarjala writes "This article from NewScientist.com explains that a "flash" on the moon's surface that (captured by an amateur photographer 50 years ago) was probably the result of a 20 meter asteroid hitting the moon's surface."
The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:5, Funny)
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
Re:The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:1, Funny)
Re:The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:1)
Re:The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:3, Informative)
Link to actual photo (Score:5, Informative)
For everyone else, here it is:
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/stuart.jpg [jhuapl.edu]
And here's a much better story about it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2592075
Re:Link to actual photo (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Link to actual photo (Score:2, Interesting)
Single-picture online news articles aren't much better, thats still basically what you get in the offline newspaper. The web makes it possible to have full galleries of photos for each story, which could all be set up in an automated fashion. There is no excuse.
Re:Link to actual photo (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, great. Mention what it does. It might as well be ceiling polish for all that I care.
here's the pic (Score:5, Informative)
Here's one I found over at space.com [space.com].
Nah (Score:1, Funny)
where does the light come from? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:5, Informative)
A metor slamming into rock would easily produce enough energy as heat to produce a flash. (Many other things that produce light without oxygen - I *think* bioluminecence, plus glow sticks, but certainly things like nuclear reactions, which produce quite a bit of light without oxygen being involved. We sophisicated types refer to this as 'daylight'. ;) )
--
Evan
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:1)
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:1)
Must be why redheads named "joulie" are considered "red hot". A lot of kinetic energy gets used. heh.
%^)
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:4, Interesting)
I would bet that the 'flash' was just a dust cloud, illuminated by and reflecting sunlight.
This is why: look where the incident occurred - right on the demarcation between light and dark. (It has a name, but I forget what it is.) Anyway, the area around the impact is dark due to the moon's position relative to the sun. The shadows fall at ground level, but the cloud from the impact presumably rose some distance above the moon's surface; I believe it went high enough that sunlight could strike it. Look at the craters along the [light-to-dark line] for other examples: the upper edges of some crater rims are in sunlight while the surrounding areas are dark. If the impact had occurred completely on the light side or completely on the dark side I don't think anyone would have noticed.
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:5, Informative)
It's the terminator (best read with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent :)
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:1)
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://iota.jhuapl.edu/stuart.jpg), and I'd say that a dust cloud of this magnitude would take a little bit longer to settle than this. and you can expect half a megaton of TNT to produce a hefty flash
Re:where does the light come from? (Score:1)
Answer: incandescence (Score:1)
Flashes from mars! (Score:3, Funny)
Oh wait, the moon, thank god.
Re:Flashes from mars! (Score:4, Informative)
Geez (Score:1)
Re:Geez (Score:2)
"It took them 50 years to formulate this answer?"
Uh, can we get back to you on that one?
Is there a "before" photo? (Score:2, Insightful)
Does there not exist someplace a pre-1953 photo of that area of the moon? Ideally several, which could narrow down the time to a window that the "flare" fits.
It'd help make the case. And it'd just be neat to see before & after pictures.
Re:Is there a "before" photo? (Score:1)
No "before" pictures. The BBC article [bbc.co.uk] mentioned by another says "But ground-based telescopes were not powerful enough to see any crater."
Of course, that is why astronomers couldn't announce the new crater the next day.
Other recorded lunar impacts (Score:5, Interesting)
The meteors in these cases were in probably in the 10 kg range, and the craters they produced were probably a few meters across (not large enough to see from the ground or any lunar orbiter we are likely to launch any time soon).
Did anyone consider sending a L.E.M. to this site? (Score:2)