Posted on 10/01/2014 1:08:51 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
“When we first saw it in the Grail data, we were struck by how big it was, how clear it was, but also by how unexpected it was,” said Andrews-Hanna
“No-one ever thought you’d see a square or a rectangle on this scale on any planet,” he continued.
Similar to Earth? Not quite.
The scientist and his compatriots point out that the region is comprised of numerous native radioactive elements including uranium, potassium, and thorium which in the past would have heated the lunar crust and contracted upon cooling. That contraction tore into the moon’s surface and formed massively deep valleys.
A smaller scale example here on Earth is the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, where cooling and contraction produced hexagons with 120 degree angles.
“What we’re seeing is a clever trick of spherical geometry. For structures on this scale, a polygon with 120-degree angles at the corners actually has four sides instead of six,” explained Andrews-Hanna when explaining the lunar feature compared to similar valley’s here on our planet.
Scientists are unsure when this occurred but thanks to the Apollo missions they are estimating that the rifts were made around 3.5 billion years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at valuewalk.com ...
OOPS! I read it too quickly. Thought it said “Huge Rectal” and was satire! Expecting to see Algore, Dim-bulb Biden, Dingy Reid, Barry or another RAT-Commie!
That guy is really creepy.
“a polygon with 120-degree angles at the corners actually has four sides instead of six,”
http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/okay.wav
(You'd need a huge ratchet head to lock that down ;)
It comes with transdimensional grip!
I’ve got to get that monolith action figure. How do I order it?!
First go back in time to 2001.
I’m sorry but I just find the breathless wonderment tone of the article insulting. 100 years ago people were astounded that space and time were parts of one and the same entity and curved to boot. Now they are all wowed by a friggen geometric shape, and a pretty poor one at that.
I don’t see it in that picture, either. The least they could do is have a little arrow pointing at it.
OMG.
hmmm I did some searching for you but no luck. Originally I got it from ThinkGeek but they no longer seem to carry it. It was their exclusive gag item originally. A search on ebay also turned up nothing. Dittos Amazon. You could email ThinkGeek and ask if they will be carrying it again I guess or just wait until someone on eBay puts one up for sale. If you really really want it mine is still in its package and I’m open to persuasion. Why do I feel this is turning into an episode of the Big Bang Theory. LOL
Here is the amazon page with reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/ThinkGeek-Space-Monolith-Action-Figure/product-reviews/B004GLGIFU
Pretty sick, dude...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.