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January 3, 2006
Nasa team sees explosion on Moon
Nasa scientists have witnessed a rare explosion on the Moon, caused by a "meteoroid" slamming into it.The blast was equal in energy to about 70kg of TNT and was seen near the edge of Mare Imbrium (the Sea of Rains).
The object that hit the Moon was probably part of a shower of "taurids" which peppered Earth in late October and early November.
Understanding lunar impacts could help protect astronauts when Nasa sends humans back to the Moon.
Meteoroids are small rocky or metallic objects in orbit around the Sun, or another star. One of the astronomers who observed the impact estimates that it gouged a crater 3m wide and 0.4m deep.
Rob Suggs of Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, US, was testing a new 10-in telescope and video camera they assembled to monitor the moon for space strikes.
On 7 November, his first night using the telescope, he observed one.
"People just do not look at the moon anymore," said Dr Suggs, of Marshall's engineering directorate.
"We tend to think of it as a known quantity. But there is knowledge still to be gained here."
I too think there is still a lot to learn from the moon as Dr. Suggs suggested. I just hope we learn and don't destroy, because we've done a pretty good job of that here on Earth. Perhaps we can look at our mistakes here and not repeat them if we do colonize other worlds, but who am I kidding? As long as big business is involved they don't care what they destroy as long as they make a buck in the process, but I digress.
In November NASA was able to capture footage of some meteoroids crashing into the moon. Quite a fireworks show to say the least!
Check it out with pictures. Found via the BBC.
Posted by Daffodil at January 3, 2006 11:54 AM
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Comments
I wouldn't hold out much hope either on this one. Neo-cons are paranoid about space travel, they are afraid that God might not be able to find all the bad people and punish them if they are allowed to leave the planet. It's so moronic that the Republicans have supported this kind of insanity. But I expect we won't see any progress on space related missions until we get Democrats in the White House and Congress. Republicans are too afraid of smart people to allow any real progress towards space goals, they spend too much time and money on doing false starts towards progress and not enough time on actually trying to accomplish something.
Posted by: ManDrake at January 3, 2006 1:34 PM