That's no moon!

[CptStern]

The Moon's far side, although not lacking for light, remained dark in the sense of hidden or obscured until the space race between the US and USSR took aim at the Moon. The Soviets' Luna 3 probe returned the first images of the far side in 1959, and the results were a bit of a surprise. The near side is covered with large, dark, basaltic flows that are called maria; these are rare on the far side, which is dominated by the rugged lunar highlands. A number of explanations have been offered for this difference, but today's issue of Nature contains what is certainly the most dramatic one yet: it suggests that the highlands are the remains of the Earth's missing moon, plastered across the far side of the one remaining Moon.

A consensus has formed around the theory that the Moon originated from a collision early in the history of the solar system, when a near-Mars sized body smacked into the Earth. The resulting debris coalesced into two bodies. Models of this process nicely account for some of the difference between the Earth and the Moon, including Earth's large, iron rich core

neat

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2011/08/did-the-earths-lost-moon-create-the-lunar-highlands.ars

 

[StarBob]

Uh... I'm fairly sure the accepted theory is that the earth facing side was subject to the tidal forces causing the lava flows that smoothed the surface into big dark pools and the far side just stayed lumpy... possibly from rebound or something I can't remember.

 

[CptStern]

Fortunately, a mission that may help resolve this (or at least eliminate the impact model) is already in progress. NASA's GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) will produce the same sort of gravity maps that the GRACE mission is making for the Earth. GRAIL is scheduled to launch next month. If the authors are right, the magma that was pushed off the far side should have left some indications of its shift behind, and these should show up in the gravity analysis.

.....

 

[Polaris]

There is no dark side in the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

There is no dark side in the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark.

Well according to the images, the near side of the moon is actually the darker side.

 

[2Fast4U]

There is no dark side in the moon, really. As a matter of fact it's all dark.

Yeah, what makes you think that? It's like you have Brain Damage...

 

[The Monkey]

His mind is On The Run.

 

[Eejit]

This is interesting. I might call up an astrophysicist friend about this and have him Speak To Me.

 

[Shem]

I wish I had the Time to learn about this stuff, but I've got a life.

 

[Yuri]

Hey You guys, Stop being such Sheep, we never even landed on The Great Gig in the Sky.

 

[Stylo]

Hey You guys, Stop being such Sheep, we never even landed on The Great Gig in the Sky.

There isn't even such thing as the moon.

The government fake it.

 

[Stigmata]

You guys are Animals.

 

[StarBob]

You guys are Animals.

Yeah but there's Us And Them, and we've got all the Money.

 

[The Monkey]

This Astronomy Domine really does my head in.

I wonder when we will have an Interstellar Overdrive to get us to other moons as well.

 

[Bad^Hat]

These puns are driving me up the Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Pink Floyd sucks.

 

[StarBob]

Pink Floyd sucks.

You're banned from this thread. It's not even mine but I'm declaring it. You'll miss this thread so much You'll Wish You Were Here.

 

[Shem]

Pink Floyd sucks.

You're going to regret saying that One of These Days.

 

[The Monkey]

Pink Floyd sucks.

Don't be such a Gnome.

(Why am I the only one doing the Syd Barrett years?)

 

[Stigmata]

He'll come crawling back When The Levee Breaks.

 

[StarBob]

(Why am I the only one doing the Syd Barrett years?)

Because you have to be quite Comfortably Numb to even understand them.