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The "Man In the Moon" Was Created By Mega Volcano

Posted by samzenpus on from the he-went-by-the-south-and-burnt-his-mouth dept.

astroengine writes Whenever you look up at the near side of the moon, you see a face looking back at you. This is the "Man in the Moon" and it has inspired many questions about how it could have formed. There has been some debate as to how this vast feature — called Oceanus Procellarum, which measures around 1,800 miles wide — was created. But after using gravity data from NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft, researchers have found compelling evidence that it was formed in the wake of a mega volcanic eruption and not the location of a massive asteroid strike.

5 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. So... by Dr.+Sheldon+Cooper · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Mega-man" in the moon?

    --
    Bazinga.
  2. Help by Falos · · Score: 2

    Spent the last five minutes poring over the image, can't find a face, maybe some misshapen cartoon ones or a set of Mickey Mouse circles if I squint a lot, what am I doing wrong?

    1. Re:Help by Meshach · · Score: 4, Informative

      WIkipedia has an article where they trace it out: Man in the Moon

      Not the clearest picture ever but you can see what they are talking about.

      --
      "Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
      Aldous Huxley
    2. Re:Help by Fwipp · · Score: 2

      Bottom left one, here:
      https://sathyasaibaba.files.wo...

    3. Re:Help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I spent much of my childhood seeing the rabbit in the moon. Then my family moved to the US where people kept referring to the man in the moon. I didn't see it. I could never see it. Many, many years later, it occurred to me to look at the light part of the moon and not the shadow. Then I could sort of make out a profile of a face.

      The rabbit is a lot more obvious.