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Scientists Witness Meteor Strike on the Moon

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-what-they-want-us-to-think dept.

Lonesome Squash writes "BBC reports that scientists have seen a smallish meteor strike on the moon. Impact only equivalent to 70kg of TNT, but still, you wouldn't want to have it land on your moonbase. At that size, it's kind of neat they saw it at all."

33 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Dupe by __aacvzh55 · · Score: 5, Informative

    This would be a dupe. http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/2 4/0844222&tid=160&tid=14

    1. Re:Dupe by kfg · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't be silly. The last one was about an explosion on the moon. That's exciting stuff. This one is simply about an ordinary old meteor strike.

      KFG

    2. Re:Dupe by tomhudson · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, but look at the misleading title:

      Scientists Witness Meteor Strike on the Moon

      I mean, when did we get scientists back on the moon in the first place? And was the meteor picketing, or was this a sit-down strike?

      Corrected headline:

      Scientists Witness Meteor Strike the Moon

  2. I don't understand by Pingular · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How they get that from that. Is there some kind of science behind it, or is it just guesswork?

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    1. Re:I don't understand by Billosaur · · Score: 2, Funny
      Is there some kind of science behind it, or is it just guesswork?

      Yes there is science behind it, but it's far too hard to understand. That flash wouldn't have been caused by aliens, or the secret NASA Moonbase, or any of the other possible.... [sounds of gunfire]

      Pay no attention to the previous paragraph. We're with the government and there is no cover-up...

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    2. Re:I don't understand by rjstegbauer · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ummm...Doesn't *every* impact explosion look similar? Doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch for me.

      Either that or...

      What a coincidence that the Reptilian camera caught the explosion with Earth in the background! Should make a good screen saver.

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  3. popcorn 'n cheese by BushCheney08 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wasn't that same JiffyPop diagram used for another article recently?

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  4. That explains it! by cciRRus · · Score: 4, Funny

    The meteor must have destroyed the moon buggy that we are searching all along! In your face, conspiracy theorists!

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    w00t
  5. Lunar Embassy by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Funny

    Danm it! I paid $20 dollars for that plot an all I got was this lousy meteorite hit. It's always the same. The minute you buy, some chump down the street gets blown away or some meteorite just crashes all over prime development land. And me with all these solar power bills to pay.

    What next!

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  6. It's a shame by towaz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That no one is visiting the moon anytime soon; well hopefully China. The amount of meteors that must be around could probable find ones like that rock with worms in it.
    Would settle the score about earth contamination at least.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
    1. Re:It's a shame by sgcarter · · Score: 2, Interesting

      You mean this rock?

  7. FF VII-2 by Ironballs · · Score: 2, Funny

    To me sounds like Sephiroth has been defeated again

  8. Thats awesome news! by Tune · · Score: 5, Funny

    This proves that - apparently - scientists have finally been able to *exactly* reproduce previous empirical results. Just imagine: not only is the impact exactly the same and on the same spot; on top of that the same musings appear on /. !

    Amazing..

    1. Re:Thats awesome news! by bhsurfer · · Score: 2, Funny

      I only hope that it didn't have the same catastrophic effect on the moon dinosaurs as the first one did...

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  9. Speaking of explosions on the moon... by Caspian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is an urban legend that at one point, the US Department of Defense actually wanted to NUKE the moon. I think the idea was supposedly that they would nuke a point on the moon that would appear to be one of the edges of the moon, as viewed from Moscow, so Muscovites (including the KGB) could actually see the blast with the naked eye. This was, of course, to be a demonstration of American military might designed to impress and frighten the USSR.

    Can anyone comment upon the truth (or lack thereof) of this particular rumor?

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    1. Re:Speaking of explosions on the moon... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Quick Google search found it. It looks like it was true. Carl Sagan even worked as part of the project.

      http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/nuke_moon_0 00514.html

    2. Re:Speaking of explosions on the moon... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Don't they know nuclear explosions can blast the Moon out of Earth orbit, setting the stage for a television series ?

    3. Re:Speaking of explosions on the moon... by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

      the US Department of Defense actually wanted to NUKE the moon..... to be a demonstration of American military might designed to impress and frighten the USSR.

      Then USSR would nuke the other side, starting a moon war and turn it into a vast sea of craters.......oh wait.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  10. So That's Where it Went! by Dante+Shamest · · Score: 3, Funny

    And I thought my Meteor Strike didn't work. I just need to polish up my aiming.

  11. In other news. by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 3, Funny

    The NY City subway drivers union filed a complaint against whomever is hurling rocks at the moon, claiming they're just trying to biggyback on the success of their recent strike.
    Intelligent Rock Hurler was not available for comment. His coworkers who plot out the precise trajectories of rocks that result in these strikes also refused to talk to our reporters.

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  12. In before quotes by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 4, Funny

    M-O-O-N, that spells explosion...

  13. Re:Only 70kg? by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Which is pretty good for a little 12 centimeter (anything is a WMD--imagine if it had been a whole Volkswagen (VWMD)!

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  14. Re:Artistic renderings by saider · · Score: 3, Funny

    I agree. Those 5 bright pixels are stunning.

    Much science data is boring to non-scientists and the visuals help engage the casual reader.

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    Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
  15. I'll go out on a limb here... by qzulla · · Score: 5, Funny
    Now, I am no astro expert but I *think* I have the answer to this one:

    However, as Nasa plans to return to the Moon by 2020, the agency says it needs to understand what happens after lunar impacts in order to protect astronauts.

    I am guessing that there will be a crater of some sort after the impact. Maybe some floating dust. That sort of thing.

    qz

    1. Re:I'll go out on a limb here... by John+Hasler · · Score: 4, Informative

      > I am guessing that there will be a crater of some sort after the
      > impact. Maybe some floating dust.

      Dust doesn't float very well in a vacuum. In fact, it doesn't float at all. Dust particles created by the explosion will follow ballistic trajectories just like those of the larger fragments. This is important because while you are unlikely to be hit by a large chunk if you're kilometers away 1000 m/s dust could do a lot of damage.

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  16. Not as big as Moon Base Alpha explosion in '99 by srobert · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember it well, it was only 7 years ago, but somehow it seems more like 30.

    1. Re:Not as big as Moon Base Alpha explosion in '99 by Harodotus · · Score: 2, Funny

      The so-called explosion wasn't even "NEAR" moon-base alpha, was far away on the dark side at several of the the nuclear waste disposal and storage facilities. As I recall, it took the better part of an hour by Eagle landers to reach it. This safety measure protected the residents of Moon Base Alpha even in the worst-case scenario that occurred in '99

      Furthermore, It's minute long spontaneous ignition (caused by improper management of the facility and not following the safety specifications) was hardly an explosion, it was more like a briefly sustained fusion (fission?) event.

      I do have to concede that it was certainly many orders of magnitude greater in terms of energy release. The Lunar ignition of '99 generated enough energy to accelerate a body the size of the moon by 5Gs or so (nobody blacked out from the acceleration) and sustain it long enough to have escape Solar system escape velocity. Various theories about the discrepancy between a 60 second 5G acceleration and Solar system escape velocity being caused by the previously unknown "space warp" are still under investigation.

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  17. Re:Odd coincidence... by OzPeter · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's five, so I doubt he's reading Slashdot (yet)...

      are you sure?? I see a lot of five year olds posting to /. all the time :D

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  18. Re:Old News by Jaseoldboss · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you subscribe to NASA Science News you get to read about it on December 23rd. Link

    Click "Join mailing list" at the top.

  19. Re:Slashdot reader's thoughts: by 1u3hr · · Score: 2, Funny
    They take the same damn story twice, but they can't accept my original one! WTF!

    And they smacked you down to -1 too. Seems the eds spend more time seeking revenge than checking their stories. If you'd been Roland Piquepaille, they wouldn't have been so cavalier.

  20. I've Found a Better Picture by douglips · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've located a Hubble image of the impact damage. Pretty impressive!

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  21. Well .... by gelfling · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... at least ONE moon landing was real....

  22. Not the first time by imemyself · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This isn't the first time that people have seen meteors hitting the moon. In the 1500's I think it was, some monks in Europe saw what may have been a meteor/asteroid hitting the moon. It was mentioned in one movies/episodes of the Cosmos series. Though I have heard that some people think that it was just a metor breaking up in the Earth's atmosphere and that it just appeared to be over the moon because of their position. Also, some time around the 50's I think(either in the 40's, 50's, or 60's I think I'm not sure), a Japanese scientist saw a small flash of light that was almost certainly a meteor. I almost think that he had a picture of it as well, though I'm not certain.

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