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Fifty Year Old Moon Mystery Explained
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."
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.
Here's a tip for Jeff Hecht, the article's author: If you write a piece about a photograph, you *must* link to a copy of the photograph. Mkay?
. stm
For everyone else, here it is:
http://iota.jhuapl.edu/stuart.jpg
And here's a much better story about it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2592075
The linked article doesn't have a pic of the impact they're talking about.
Here's one I found over at space.com.
It was just NASA figuring out the light levels so best to simulate it in a warehouse in the desert.
--I am not any sort of expert on this so I have a question I don't see addressed in the article. I can understand a large kinetic hit, the crater and debris field. Where does the "light" come from? Inside an atmosphere like ours we have an "oxidiser" allowing some burning, if I am understanding this correctly, how we see meteorites after they enter (saw a bolide hit the ocean before, very spectacular). But on the moon in a vacuum, how does one rock hitting another create the light? Flint hitting steel creates a spark because a piece of the steel is burning, and it's burning because there's O2 present. On the moon I just don't get it. I'm sure there's an answer, I just don't know what it is, lacking any sort of decent chemistry. Thanks in advance for anyone who can explain this simply.
Oh no, bright flashes observed from mars?
Oh wait, the moon, thank god.
It took them 50 years to formulate this answer?
It's common in astronomy to be able to back to earlier photos and see what was there and what changed since. Much research benefits from this abaility.
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.
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).
Amazing parody, my friend.
At least, I hope it's a parody.
When stuff gets hot, it glows.
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
This is getting obscenely old. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop posting this comment! Every time there's a moon-related story, this comment, word for word, is posted. Grr. I wish I'd saved a mod point today.
Any sufficiently simple magic can be passed off as mere advanced technology.
that's why they call it a troll, genius.
Did anyone consider sending a L.E.M. to this site? Would there have been any trace of this explosion that Borman could have found in a weekend's hiking?