Comments on: Peaking into lunar craters

By: Neil Haggath

Neil Haggath — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 22:50:26 +0000

#3 Scott P:
Gervase of Canterbury didn’t observe the event in 1178, which some claim to have been the formation of Giordano Bruno. He simply recorded it in his chronicle; the witnesses were five monks, whose names are long forgotten.
Nor was it Sagan’s idea; he simply related the story in Cosmos. Odile Calame and Derral Mulholland first proposed the idea, in the 1970′s, that the Five Men of Kent witnessed the formation of a lunar crater; Jack Hartung later proposed that it was Giordano Bruno.
The irony in the story is that the monks were troubled by what they saw, because it challenged their religious beliefs – and Giordano Bruno is named after a man who was executed for heresy, for challenging conventional religious beliefs!

By: Tony D

Tony D — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:20:19 +0000

“How? How does studying existent craters help prevent further cratering? As opposed to say studying existent asteroids and comets, plotting their orbits and creating deflection or destruction devices for them? It’s not like you can inoculate against them.”

First of all, it almost seems like you’re saying studying both simultaneously isn’t possible, when that is far from the case. Most importantly, however, is that any bit of information regarding impacts, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is possibly something we didn’t know before. That is the foundation of science.

Knowing what impactors do to the surface of the Moon can possibly help identify characteristics of some that would pose a threat to Earth. This could help in figuring out what types we should be searching for in the skies.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:31:52 +0000

Thameron Says:

At a guess, studying craters can help us figure out things like impactor velocity, size, and frequency. If we can identify repeating patterns of clustered impacts, we have a better idea of what to look for, and when, in the future.

By: James Earley

James Earley — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:20:23 +0000

Scott P:
Morota et al wrote a paper saying the Giordono Bruno is between 1-10My old, arguing against Sagan’s idea. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009M%26PS…44.1115M

By: Jon Hanford

Jon Hanford — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:36:53 +0000

@3 Scott P.

“Any thoughts on Sagan’s idea (possibly taken from elsewhere) that Gervase of Canterbury saw the impact that created Giordano Bruno in the 11th century?”

Several lines of evidence argue against the formation of the lunar crater Giordano Bruno in 1178 A.D. Among the most compelling, crater counts based on high-res imagery from the Kaguya satellite places the age of the crater at 1-10 million years: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Feb10/GiordanoBrunoCrater.html

Additionally, the formation of the crater in 1178 should have been followed by a week-long meteor storm from debris entering Earth’s atmosphere (and was not subsequently observed): http://www.uark.edu/~meteor/abst36-4.html

NASA Science News also has a page on the origin of Giordano Bruno: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast26apr_1/

It makes for an interesting story, but turns out to be an unlikely scenario.

By: Thameron

Thameron — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:51:02 +0000

“Besides just helping us understanding the physics and geology of these colossal events, it helps us understand how better to prevent them here on Earth;”

How? How does studying existent craters help prevent further cratering? As opposed to say studying existent asteroids and comets, plotting their orbits and creating deflection or destruction devices for them? It’s not like you can inoculate against them.

By: Scott P.

Scott P. — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:14:54 +0000

Any thoughts on Sagan’s idea (possibly taken from elsewhere) that Gervase of Canterbury saw the impact that created Giordano Bruno in the 11th century?

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:35:02 +0000

Query: would it be physically possible that large debris from a lunar impact would be a danger to inhabitants of Earth? I have a feeling that such an impact might destroy the moon, but it’s just intuitive, no scientific reasoning behind it.

By: Kea Giles

Kea Giles — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:28:36 +0000

Neato! BTW I like your words for enlarge.