Comments on: Moon bounce

By: Matt B.

Matt B. — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:59:58 +0000

@6 Jenn D. – Right-click on the picture and select “Copy”. Then open Paint if you’re using Windows, and paste. Then you can rotate the picture there by 90 degrees at a time.

By the way, if you want an astronomy-themed handle to use here, you could go with “Solar Jenn”, a name that a friend of mine came up with for a superheroine. I was thinking of switching to something clever when BA goes to Slate myself.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:38:31 +0000

This obviously is one of Alan Shepard’s golf balls.

By: CafeenMan

CafeenMan — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:38:20 +0000

@Messier – what’s wrong with just making the laptop levitate upside-down? Why are you people always finding the most complicated ways imaginable to do things?

Remember, the SIMPLEST way that works is the best.

By: Andrei

Andrei — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:52:08 +0000

@2 Nigel
That was the first thing I thought also when I first saw the title. And then when I first saw the picture I thought of being maybe a radar image of the moon – a continuation of the impression of radio bounce on the moon surface.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:55:18 +0000

@6. Jenn D. asked : “You couldn’t flip the picture for us? I’m on a laptop, can’t easily turn the screen upside down.”

Can you do handstands? Or cartwheels and have a quick glance mid turn, mid air?

By: wright1

wright1 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:33:55 +0000

Magnificent image. Those bounce / roll tracks are so eloquent!

By: Grizzly

Grizzly — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:47:00 +0000

It’s a wonderful night for a moon bounce…

By: CatMom

CatMom — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:15:19 +0000

RE: Markus – actually, it’s where Alan Shepard putted the ball a looooong way and put it right into the cup.

By: Markus

Markus — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 19:27:09 +0000

Examples of such boulder traces can be found in old Lunar Orbiter images as well. Years ago these used to prompt The Usual Conspiracy Theorists With A Geocities Homepage out there to come up with sensationalist crap along the lines of “Ancient Alien Machines Left Rover Tracks On The Moon!!!!1!!” (and of course NASA knows it and lies about it, yadda yadda…)

By: Tara Li

Tara Li — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:39:03 +0000

@Alex – actually, I think that’s a case of lighter exposed regolith from the cluster of small impacts located at the center of it. Maybe a smaller, rounder version of Tycho’s rays. Not all color variation comes from elevation changes, after all.