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Fifty Year Old Moon Mystery Explained

Posted by michael on from the green-cheese dept.

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."

2 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Is there a "before" photo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  2. Re:where does the light come from? by KillerLoop · · Score: 2, Insightful

    very unlikely. the flash lasted for 8 to 10 seconds
    (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 :)