The Moon

[EyeKhan]

I just read an article in Science and it turns out the frackin' moon has a molten iron core. WTF? They took a fresh look at some old Apollo program data with modern computers and analysis techniques and sure as shit its got a molten outer core with a solid inner, made of iron, just like Earth. Just wow.

When I was coming up they told us the moon was geologically dead, cold and solid through and through. Of course they also told us it was dry as a bone. So . . . . I LOVE SCIENCE! I love the Moon too. Beautiful Luna.... she's a dream.

[Angel_Mapper]

"It is disconcerting to reflect on the number of students we have flunked in chemistry for not knowing what we later found to be untrue."
- Robert L. Weber

[EyeKhan]

Heh. Imagine the poor slobs that flunk crap subjects like psychology or economics. Losers.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Wasn't the theory that the moon come about because of a collision between Earth and a Mars sized planet which both had iron cores?

Remember it from one of the many " Our Solar system and you" national geographic documentaries I've seen. I'm a sucker for space documentaries because of all the nifty animations.

[EyeKhan]

That is the current theory but I don't recall the specific that they both had iron cores. The curiosity in that theory that I've never read deeply enough to see explained is the references to size and what happened to the material from this collision. Ok, so we know a few things:

A. The size of the thing that hit the Earth - approx. 1 Mars.

B. The size of the resulting Moon. Approx. 1 Moon, or, what, maybe 1/3 Mars?

C. The size of the Earth today, 1 Earth or, what, 3/1 Mars?

Ok then, what about these questions:

1. What size was the Earth before it got hit by the 1 Mars object?

2. How much of the 1 Mars object was incorpoarated into the Moon?

3. How much of the 1 Mars object was incorporated into the Earth?

4. How much of the original Earth became part of the Moon?

5. How much, if any, of the 1 Mars object and the original Earth got blasted away somewhere else?

[']['ear]

Since this hypothesis is based on Apollo data, and we all know Apollo to be a hoax, clearly the hypothesis has no merit.

[EyeKhan]

Since this hypothesis is based on Apollo data, and we all know Apollo to be a hoax, clearly the hypothesis has no merit.

Off topic.

Its an interesting story - apparently they had some sensitive seismographs set up on the moon for a few years that recorded moon-quake vibrations. At the time they didn't have the computing power or the methodology to analyze the data like we can today. They found nothing. Today, we see a liquid core.

[Aimless]

I bet life couldn't have evolved here without the moonbirth

[EyeKhan]

I bet life couldn't have evolved here without the moonbirth

A number of scientists, and fiction writers () have made that hypothesis. Not sure if anyone's actually done a serious analysis of it. I've heard some claim the moon skimmed off much of our atmosphere so that we're less like Venus. I've heard that the moon-caused tides sloshed the ocean around more and helped life develop. I think Azimov hypothesized in the robot books that the Moon's gravity brought radioactive elements closer to the surface of earth or something, maybe through increased plate tectonics, which exposed life to more mutation-causing radiation, allowing faster evolution. (ahem, 3 billion years is fast? )

[Aimless]

A number of scientists, and fiction writers () have made that hypothesis.

Yes but I'm an unknown toad-like amateur, much like Susan Boyle, so it's even cooler if I'm right

[']['ear]

Yes, it is cool. Though I do wonder at the absence of computing power to analyze data, yet the telemetry to communicate said data. A disconnect there. I'm betting that they're talking about computer modeling power using a relatively small starting data set.

[EyeKhan]

Yes, it is cool. Though I do wonder at the absence of computing power to analyze data, yet the telemetry to communicate said data. A disconnect there. I'm betting that they're talking about computer modeling power using a relatively small starting data set.

That and sufficiently sophisticated models themselves. You can't be good at modeling if you don't have a computer that can run a decent model.

[EyeKhan]

Yes but I'm an unknown toad-like amateur, much like Susan Boyle, so it's even cooler if I'm right

You're not right. If you were right then the implication is that life is very very rare. And we don't want to believe that.

[Aimless]

You're not right. If you were right then the implication is that life is very very rare. And we don't want to believe that.

Why not? Even if it were relatively rare, the universe is BIG

On a side note, this almost makes up for pluto's fall from grace

[EyeKhan]

Why not? Even if it were relatively rare, the universe is BIG

On a side note, this almost makes up for pluto's fall from grace

The Pluto argument isn't over. Not by a long shot. IMHO we're going to end up with 10 planets + whatever other big ice balls are out there in the Kuiper Belt, which is probably a lot. If its big enough to collapse into a sphere by its own gravity and it orbits the star directly, its a planet. There's no sense in saying a world like Mars and a world like Jupiter are similar enough that they can both be categorized as planets but Pluto is just too different, by virtue of its size and composition, and must be in a different category. Inconsistent and ridiculous.

Also, we don't want life to be rare because we want a crowded, fun galaxy, not an empty, boring one.

[agamemnus]

And if it turns out the core is composed of tomato sauce... then:

1) Tomato sauce core.
2) ???
3) PROFIT.

[EyeKhan]

Uh....

[']['ear]

Also, we don't want life to be rare because we want a crowded, fun galaxy, not an empty, boring one.

I disagree. Given the brutality of evolution, I don't want to run into another intelligent species. My curiosity is maxed, but trumped by my pragmatism, which says that whetting said curiosity could cost me and 7 billion of my closest friends dearly.

[termite]

The moon was given to us by God to confuse right wing media fossils into completely humiliating themselves by proving their ignorance of such a fundamental force as gravity.

Nice work God, now hurry the fuck up and make with the extra terrestrial life - I'd love to see how the religious loons respond to the discovery of actual life outside of planet earth. I would however prefer it if we had dominion over these ET creatures though, lest we get our arses handed to us by superior beings and end up enslaved like the jews of old...

...oh noes!

[EyeKhan]

I disagree. Given the brutality of evolution, I don't want to run into another intelligent species. My curiosity is maxed, but trumped by my pragmatism, which says that whetting said curiosity could cost me and 7 billion of my closest friends dearly.

Glass half empty, eh? I'm not even a teeny tiny bit worried that aliens might invade and/or exterminate/ subjugate us.

[termite]

We'll end up building fucking Pyramids Ike - be careful what you wish for!

[EyeKhan]

Nonsense. There's only one reason for Aliens to visit Earth. Ok, two reasons.

1. To study us like the animals we are. They would be careful not to screw around with our civilization and so on. Prime directive, science, all that.

2. To exterminate us before we become too dangerous. Humans would be fucking scary to any species that wasn't already xenophobic. Cautious aliens might not want to take any chances of us getting loose and kill us all just to be safe.

[termite]

There is a 3rd option, we could have our planet destroyed to make space for a Galactic Highway.

[EyeKhan]

Bypass. It was a bypass.

[ar81]

[EyeKhan]

Wrong thread nut ball.

With Nessus taking a powder and Tear deceased, whose going to talk sensibly about the Moon?

[Wraith]

What's there to discuss? It's pretty cool new info, but doesn't seem to really change much.

[ar81]

I just read an article in Science and it turns out the frackin' moon has a molten iron core. WTF? They took a fresh look at some old Apollo program data with modern computers and analysis techniques and sure as shit its got a molten outer core with a solid inner, made of iron, just like Earth. Just wow.

When I was coming up they told us the moon was geologically dead, cold and solid through and through. Of course they also told us it was dry as a bone. So . . . . I LOVE SCIENCE! I love the Moon too. Beautiful Luna.... she's a dream.

I love science too. It would be nice if humanity could settle down there. Don't you think?

[ar81]

I just read an article in Science and it turns out the frackin' moon has a molten iron core. WTF? They took a fresh look at some old Apollo program data with modern computers and analysis techniques and sure as shit its got a molten outer core with a solid inner, made of iron, just like Earth. Just wow.

When I was coming up they told us the moon was geologically dead, cold and solid through and through. Of course they also told us it was dry as a bone. So . . . . I LOVE SCIENCE! I love the Moon too. Beautiful Luna.... she's a dream.

I love science too. It would be nice if humanity could settle down there. Don't you think?

[EyeKhan]

What's there to discuss? It's pretty cool new info, but doesn't seem to really change much.

Actually, you might be able to talk sensibly about the moon. You seem to have some sort of science background. Actually, you're a bit enigmatic.