Comments on: The Moon’s pole, in context

By: Owen Powers

Owen Powers — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:33:55 +0000

For anyone interested in Craters check out a possible one located under
Washington DC ( http://www.dccrater.com )

By: A lunar mountain’s eternally sunny disposition | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:54:00 +0000

[...] of 90 degrees south latitude on the Moon. Parts of its rim stick up so high that, for them, the sun never sets. It’s up over the horizon (though very low) all day, every [...]

By: Sorting Out Science » Blog Archive » Philosophia Naturalis #15

Sorting Out Science » Blog Archive » Philosophia Naturalis #15 — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:53:19 +0000

[...] back. Bad Astronomy puts one of the images (including some topography around the lunar south pole in context, while Emily at the Planetary Society goes into more depth on the Kaguya Earthrise and Earthset [...]

By: The Centipede

The Centipede — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:04:50 +0000

>>â€Centipede SMASH.â€

>Hmm. Not *quite* the same impact as â€œHulk SMASH!â€

>Heh heh hehâ€¦ impactâ€¦

Would you prefer “Centipede INJECT FULL OF POISON.” ? ‘Cuz braindead Romantics who want to keep the absolutely stone dead nature of the Moon pristinely stone dead could probably do with a bit o’ scolomorph neurotoxin.

By: Burzycki.org - Tech and Interesting Facts

Burzycki.org - Tech and Interesting Facts — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:39:15 +0000

[...] a new space tourism company in town. Phil Plait gives that recent Earth-rise image taken by Kaguya some context. Now you know the craters the spacecraft is flying [...]

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:00:33 +0000

Mmmmmmmm…. 19km diameter crater that could be converted into a radio telescope that would put Aricebo to shame (drool…..)

Yup, sounds like a good place to put a base…. if the Reptilian aliens and their UFOs aren’t already there first!!!

By: Quiet_Desperation

Quiet_Desperation — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:47:50 +0000

>”Centipede SMASH.”

Hmm. Not *quite* the same impact as “Hulk SMASH!”

Heh heh heh… impact…

By: DennyMo

DennyMo — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:27:55 +0000

(I hope my winky emoticon made it clear that I was being facetious earlier.)

Skepterist, is that from Futurama? It pretty well describes one of their episodes.

Justin, that’s why they picked it.

By: Skepterist

Skepterist — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 05:55:13 +0000

But there ain’t no whales, so we tell tall tales and sing our whaling tune!

The sign on my wall says,
FIRST STOP – THE MOON!
ITS NOT JUST AN AIRLESS DESERT ANYMORE -
ITS AN AIRLESS DESERT WITH THEME PARKS AND CONCESSION STANDS!

By: Chris Lintott’s Universe » Looking home

Chris Lintott’s Universe » Looking home — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:58:13 +0000

[...] : Better Bad Astronomy [...]

By: RawheaD

RawheaD — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:27:03 +0000

Yeah, so I sat down in front of my TV at 8PM sharp thinking I’ll get to watch this, and their showing Build it Bigger. Bummer. Watched the show anyway, though. My son liked it :p

By: John Morales

John Morales — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:09:49 +0000

Um, heat engine not heat pump.

By: John Morales

John Morales — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:03:30 +0000

re: the solar panels.

Quoting Phil:
Parts of its rim stick up so high off the surface that they are almost always in sunlight, all the time. The Sun would never set for, say, a series of solar panels situated there. Weirdly, for parts of the crater floor, the Sun would never rise

That would seem perfect for a heat pump, and I imagine the energy efficiency would be very high, since the moon has no atmosphere. And the distance between cold/hot (on either side of the shadowline) would be small, simplifying the engineering.

Sorry, DennyMo, more for you to worry about.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:43:52 +0000

The best estimates that I’ve heard about Shackleton are 70% daylight around the edge. Sounds good, but even 30% darkness out of ~28 days is about 9 days with no power if you rely just on solar. (Assuming that the shadows are continuous).

Another site getting some interest is Malapert Crater/Mountain:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/moon_mountain_020326.html

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:42:53 +0000

So will there be frozen whales in the frozen water? So that the – don’t make me say it oh please don’t make me say it – whalers on the moon have something to do (ah, darnit)?

By: Lugosi

Lugosi — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:09:38 +0000

Factician appears to be correct. I’m not showing the Earth rise video on my Discovery Channel listings. And the link you gave has a “.ca” suffix, so apparently their programming is different from ours.
Just another reason we should stop picking on Iran and invade Canada instead, if you ask me.

By: The Centipede

The Centipede — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:52:06 +0000

> I wonder if moon water would taste the same as earth water – maybe a little stale?

With a slightly cheesy aftertaste, like sharp cheddar.

By: Dean Baird

Dean Baird — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:50:18 +0000

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Dan Durda Rocks(!) !!!

By: John Armstrong

John Armstrong — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:14:09 +0000

Um, I’d love to watch the footage on Discovery HD, but what should I make of the fact that my cable guide says nothing about it, the link you provide goes to discovery.ca (the Canadian version, presumably), and the American version of the Discovery Channel site shows nothing about it on any of its channels.

The simplest explanation would seem to be that it’s only showing in Canadia, but I suppose that the promotional materials could have been intelligently designed to only show up in the Great White North, and their omission here is just a test of our faith.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:58:42 +0000

On a side note, that’s an appropriate name for a crater on the south pole – Shackleton was the guy who first explored the south pole on earth.

By: factician

factician — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:55:51 +0000

Note: That showing on HDTV tonight is only in Canada (Discovery programming in Canada =/= Discovery programming in U.S.)

By: Jeff Sonas

Jeff Sonas — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:50:10 +0000

I wonder if moon water would taste the same as earth water – maybe a little stale?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:49:19 +0000

“So, orient me. Is the white cap on the top left of the Earth the South Pole? Is that Australia below it?”

That’s how it looks to me.

By: Darth Curt

Darth Curt — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:45:22 +0000

Watching the earth “rise” and “set” had my earth based brain thinking East and West even though the earth is upside down, and it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Now that I read that that’s the south pole of the moon, it all makes sense. Again, thanks Phil for a great post.

Also… Great Ceasar’s Ghost!!! That Crater is MASSIVE! Thanks for putting that in perspective as well.

By: The Centipede

The Centipede — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:27:40 +0000

“We must leave the Moon as protected pristine wilderness!”

Grr. Argh. Bloody Romantics. Centipede SMASH.

Anyway, then there’s that even bigger crater on the left side of the picture, whatever that one is.