Microwave Map of Entire Moon Revealed 82
Zothecula writes "The first complete microwave image of the Moon taken by Chinese lunar satellite Chang'E-1 has been revealed. Chang'E-1 is China's first scientific mission to explore planetary bodies beyond Earth and the on-board Lunar Microwave Radiometer has made it possible for the first time to globally map the Moon in microwave frequencies. Radar observations of the Moon are unable to provide thermal information, and microwave observations taken from Earth cannot reach the far side of the moon. So Chang'E-1's (CE-1) orbit was conducted at an altitude of 200km (124 miles) and allowed it to observe every location of the moon with a nadir view and at high spatial resolution."
What? (Score:2)
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In before... (Score:4, Insightful)
“That’s no moon, it’s a space station”
etc.
While I’m opening cans of worms, I’m sure the moon hoaxers would like to know whether or not it saw the American flag we left up there.
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It saw where the flag was... before it got vaporized! "Flag not microwave safe". Should have gotten the made in china version. etc.etc.etc.
Moon Hoaxers := stupid nutters (Score:2)
"I'm sure the moon hoaxers would like to know whether or not it saw the American flag we left up there."
No, they would want to know that it didn't see the flag:
Moon Hoaxer: Did it see the flag?
Chinese Scientist: Well, it's not designed to see anything that small
Moon Hoaxer (interrupting): DID IT SEE THE FLAG, YES OR NO?
Chinese Scientist: No, but it wouldn't see
Moon Hoaxer (interrupting): SEE I TOLD YOU ALL IT WAS A HOAX HERE'S PROOF.
What they wouldn't want to know would be if it did see the flag:
Moon Hoaxer
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And... why, exactly, did you think that I wanted to open that can of worms?
Sounds pretty win-win to me.
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That’s an awful lot of toasted cheese... where on earth will we find a large enough hunk of bread?
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When I saw "whole moon" the first thing I thought of was goatse.
FTFP (Score:2)
That would make a cool looking shirt.
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I think I saw the bikini version, but at the time I just thought it was supposed to be tie-dye.
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That would make a cool looking shirt.
Agree. Especially when they open the Hooters branch in the Sea of Tranquility.
That sound like it would (Score:1)
make some good dip for my nachos. Mmmm. Green cheese...
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Obama was right! (Score:5, Funny)
This is Chang'E I can believe in!
Grain of Salt (Score:2, Insightful)
I hate to besmirch the name of the good Chinese researchers that I know but I wouldn't trust this. There has been too many bad publications out of China and Chinese universities. The link doesn't even mention a journal that the results will be published in. They do say they will present the research at the European Planetary Science Congress but that is it. (Yes I RTFL.)
Now I'm not saying they aren't capable of doing this just that it smells bad enough for me to have my doubts. We will see.
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It puts them about 50 years behind the US and the Russians in extraterrestrial exploration.
I don't see why it's at all fishy.
BTW, they don't serve cat at Chinese restaurants, either.
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It puts them about 50 years behind the US and the Russians in extraterrestrial exploration.
I don't see why it's at all fishy.
It's not a technically difficult feat, but it is still extremely difficult to do. The Chinese (as a country) have a strong history of lying about research (and other stuff) to try and make themselves look better. This is all certainly possible, but I wouldn't put any money on it until after it's been peer reviewed.
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Oh yea. The Liberals go to all the trouble of painting a moon up in the sky every night just to fuck with my head. They even moving it during the night and changing the shape nightly. /sarcasm
What I am saying is that Chinese universities have a tendency of fostering academic misconduct in an attempt to compete with the western world's research. The fact that the people who claim to have taken this picture doesn't seem to have any publications lined up makes me wonder about the authenticity of the work.
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So you're saying this whole thing might be A Ridiculous Liberal Myth?
Oh yea. The Liberals go to all the trouble of painting a moon up in the sky every night just to fuck with my head. They even moving it during the night and changing the shape nightly. /sarcasm
What I am saying is that Chinese universities have a tendency of fostering academic misconduct in an attempt ...
Grandparent's post was a oblique reference to a long running troll/joke. http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=site%3Aslashdot.org+The+moon+is+A+Ridiculous+Liberal+Myth [google.com]
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I hate to besmirch the name of the good Chinese researchers that I know but I wouldn't trust this.
It's interesting you say that, because the images just don't make sense to me. If I understand the article, those are 2 temperature maps of the moon's surface - one is "day", one is "night", but they both seem to show the entire surface of the moon, and in both, while the temperature seems to drop off toward the poles as you would expect, there is little variation around the circumference. Am I missing something? Can anyone explain this?
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Re:Grain of Salt (Score:4, Informative)
As the spacecraft goes around the moon it takes pictures during the day and during the night. You take the day ones and put them in one composite, and the night ones and put them in another.
The spacecraft didn't image the whole moon (a sphere!) from 200 km up, all in one shot.
It's just like this [nasa.gov] picture, where it's night all over the planet. Or this [nasa.gov] one, where it's day everywhere and there are no clouds.
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Also fwiw a “day” (or night) on the moon lasts ~30 days, so I think getting one “daytime” image of the entire sphere should have took at least that long.
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It's just like this picture, where it's night all over the planet. Or this one, where it's day everywhere and there are no clouds.
(facepalm) Duh! Thanks, I figured I was missing something obvious, or everyone else would have been all over it before I posted.
Re:psychedelic boobs? (Score:4, Informative)
the fools! (Score:3, Funny)
What happens when we find out that the moon isn't made of green cheese but filled with popcorn?! The only reason why we aren't hearing the impending popping of doom is because there's no air in space! And they did it! They went and microwaved the moon! But just you wait, the giant fluffy kernels of doom shall come raining down on us! RAINING DOWN!!!
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But just you wait, the giant fluffy kernels of doom shall come raining down on us! RAINING DOWN!!!
At least we won't die hungry.
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But they nuked it from orbit (which is the only way to be sure) and making a picture of it (i.e. a thousand words) is pretty certain.
Microwave Three Wolves... (Score:2)
From the headline... (Score:2)
... I thought it was going to be a map of where all the microwaves on the moon are, like in case you find yourself stuck up there with a cold chili-dog or something.
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Yeah, I get it. Popcorn in the Sea of tranquility, Re-heated Pizza in the Ocean of Storms, and a nice cup of tea in the Messier crater. Microwave map of the moon, indeed!
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So they put a map of the moon into a microwave. This is considered news these days?? Guess what, I put a marshmellow in the microwave the other day. Yippee!
Great! Now post pics of the Apollo Landers (Score:2, Insightful)
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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.html [nasa.gov]
Dark side of the spoon (Score:1)
Wonder if it shows the lunar bases on the dark side of the moon! ;-)
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Yeah, you had to dance across the moon, fighting angry parents whilst avoiding a Chinese spacecraft trying to fry you. If you got hit there was quite the realistic clip of Michael on fire.
Wait a second... ! (Score:2)
Whoah! That's no Death Star!
Is it in enough detail to show Apollo landings? (Score:2)
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Yeah, but I’d love to see the explanation they’d have to come up to manage to get Communist China in on the hoax. The plot thickens...
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There is no Communist China.
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You realize that they have to -gain- from making us look bad, and /not/ proving it?
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I have a witty response, I’m sure of it... but first I have to figure out whether “they” refers to the Chinese Communists or the moon hoaxers.
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There's not a lot of "sections" to smart. If someone don't believe the US landed on the moon these days, the onus is on them to prove it. Otherwise, they're pretty dumb - like earth-is-flat dumb.
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Believe it - people who are otherwise smart fall for dumb shit all the time.
The earth is flat around me. (Score:2)
Just because you and I have our heads pointed in different directions doesn't mean the earth isn't flat
locally.
Swirl? (Score:3, Interesting)
How come the images have a noticeable swirl to them? No mention of it in the article.
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Because the human brain likes to interpret when presented with uninteresting data, I'd guess.
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While in the UK I was rather shocked to see the speed limits are still in mile per hour.
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What else would it be, furlongs per hour?
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We are dealing with reality here sir, please kindly keep your ficticiousness to yourself.
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+1 Funny moderations do not give you karma.
Results of Microwave Map: (Score:4, Funny)
No microwaves on the moon. Anyone traveling there will have to bring their own.
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So... (Score:1)
No gigantic alien Battle Station in the dark side of the Moon, just waiting for orders to unleash their unstoppable forces of Evil over our insufficiently advanced civilization?
Bummer.