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First Word On Results From GRAIL, NASA's Moon Gravity Mission
An anonymous reader writes "Nature has advance word on the first science results from GRAIL, NASA's twin probes launched a year ago which are mapping the gravity of the Moon from lunar orbit. This is coming out in advance of any official publication or NASA release, so the data isn't available, but the story trails what the PI Maria Zuber told a Harvard CFA colloquium last week are some of the team's key scientific findings: including that the Moon's crust is substantially thinner than once thought; and some of the more speculative impact basins haven't been confirmed."
What more proof do you need that it's made of cheese, eh?
It's the only way to make sure.
Non-oblig. comic ref.
That said, I think "data" counts as a "non-count" noun in its typical modern usage. Like "information", or "water", or "peanut butter", it may be composed of many individual bits, but it's talked about as a blob, not as a large number of individual bits.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
the Moon's crust is substantially thinner than once thought;
The Moon is really cheese cake - cheese doesn't have a crust but cheese cake does.
If it were fried cheese with a jalapeno center - a Moon Popper - the orbit would be completely different.
Initial data seems to indicate the presence of a monolith buried underneath the surface of the moon. Scientists baffled at the implications.
I used to have a good sig...
The "crusts" on cheese are more commonly known as skins.
Cheese cake doesn't have a crust, it has a base.. and we haven't seen any moon bases yet.
I have to say that I'm sorely disappointed in the lack of moon poppers. Poppers are the moondog's nuts.
which is totally what she said
It's not called a "crust" or a "skin", it's called the rind.
Cheeses can have both rinds and crusts. The rind is on the outside, and is intended to be there. Crusts, on the other hand, develop mostly unintentionally, and often on the inside too after a cheese has been cut. An outside crust can be treated, e.g. with brine, to create a rind.
As for skins, yes, some have those too. Jarlsberg, for example, has a sprayed on rubbery skin between the cheese and the protective wax. It is NOT a rind, and not meant for consumption (and neither is the protective wax, although I've seen dolts that eat it).
In addition to these, some moist cheeses like Cabecou and Gamalost develop fur instead. It's a fungal layer which can be quite tasty. Sometimes it's compressed into the cheese again to make part of the rind, like in a Brie.
Will come when they do a survery of the moon's *magnetic* field.