An explosion on the Moon

NASA ^ | 12.23.2005

[Calvin Locke]

You do know what this means? If "they" can "see" a 12cm object strike the Moon, how come "they" never release
photos of the Apollo landing sites taken from Earth or the Hubble?

I was just reading some USENET posts on the possible location of the Beagle 2 "landing" site. (On Mars...)

[BnBlFlag]

Sheila Jackson Lee wants to know if it hit near the Mars Rovers.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Even NASA can't get it right. It was an "impact", not an "explosion."

Words have meaning. Or at least they should, especially to scientists.

[BenLurkin]

There rules here you know . . .

[UncleJeff]

Somebody playing paintball with a really hot gun...

[BenLurkin]

[wyattearp]

If "they" can "see" a 12cm object strike the Moon, how come "they" never release photos of the Apollo landing sites taken from Earth or the Hubble?

Dude, what they saw wasn't the 12cm object striking the moon. What they saw was the 70 kiloton explosion that resulted from the 12cm object striking the moon. A 70 kiloton explosion is just a little bit larger than the bottom half of a moon lander, and gives off just a little bit more light.

The landers are way too small to be seen by any telescope on Earth, or by the Hubble for that matter.

[ChadGore]

. . . . women and minorities hardest hit

[sam_paine]

It was an "impact", not an "explosion." Words have meaning. Or at least they should, especially to scientists.

There's nothing wrong with using "explosion" here. Just because it was a big bang caused by kinetic energy of an impact instead of chemical 'bomb' energy doesn't make it less of an explosion.

Words -do- have meaning, or at least they should....to FReepers!

[ChadGore]

moon.google.com has it live!

[ChadGore]

http://moon.google.com/

[1rudeboy]

[chuckle]
All too typical of a reaction nowadays.

[Atlas Sneezed]

There's nothing wrong with using "explosion" here. Just because it was a big bang caused by kinetic energy of an impact instead of chemical 'bomb' energy doesn't make it less of an explosion.

---

By the same token, when I kick the toe of my boot into the dirt, and raise a cloud of fragments, that is an explosion?

No, I begin with the lay dictionary definition:
1. A release of mechanical, chemical, or nuclear energy in a sudden and often violent manner with the generation of high temperature and usually with the release of gases.
2. A violent bursting as a result of internal pressure.
3. The loud, sharp sound made as a result of either of these actions.

A rock hitting dirt does not fall under any of these definitions. Of course, scientists and engineers have a narrower definition of the term. Even the energy released when the gunpowder is detonated in a rifle or cannon is not an explosion, it is rapid combustion.

NASA is just playing "bread and circuses" exaggeration games to get headlines and our earnings.

[Atlas Sneezed]

What they saw was the 70 kiloton explosion that resulted from the 12cm object striking the moon.

---

Actually, what they saw was the cloud of ejecta debris and dust that was kicked up from the impact.

When this happens near the terminator (the sunset/sunrise line that divides the dark from the light) in a dark area, and the debris rises up into the sunlit area, it can be very visible, even to the naked eye.

[BibChr]

That was a cool series, actually. After the bloodless, passionless first season.

Dan

[Young Werther]

The Lunartic Fringe. What a Rush!

Bush's fault line!

[ImpBill]

Official notification that you have posted the best reply to one of these threads in the history of FreeRepublic.

[Dan Evans]

I can imagine how they estimated the amount of energy the explosion had from the image, but how do you suppose they could determine the velocity?

[Bernard Marx]

Isn't the headline a bit misleading?

My reaction as well. I was expecting volcanism, hydrothermal activity, maybe some weird chemical reaction. Instead it was a routine meteorite impact with the sensational difference that someone on Earth observed it. That's where the head's emphasis should have been.

[Dan Evans]

1. A release of mechanical, chemical, or nuclear energy in a sudden and often violent manner with the generation of high temperature and usually with the release of gases.

I would say this definition covers a meteor impact. A meteor has mechanical energy that is converted to high temperature that violently vaporizes the soil and releases gases.