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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."

13 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

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

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

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  3. 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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  4. 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!

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  5. 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.

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  6. 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..

  7. 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

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

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

  9. 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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  10. 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.

  11. 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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