The Moon May Have A Warm "Heart" (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kline]

Article removed. You can go to the following to read (,ay require free registration):
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/14/sc...ce/14MOON.html

 

[Jack Briggs]

Thanks, Peter! Now, I'll have to merge this with my thread on the space effort!
Really, if the collision scenario is ever confirmed, just imagine what an awful day on Earth that must have been!

 

[Philip_G]

that article makes my head hurt

 

[Ike]

They always say that about the ugly ones.
(Okay, back to your intellectual hub-bub. )

 

[BrianW]

Thanks, Peter!
While I find this revelation exciting, I would personally prefer it if the Moon were solid throughout and geologically dead. Then there would be no quakes, no tidal distortion to muck with the precision of my Far Side Lunar Observatory which I plan to build as soon as I save up enough money.
Would anybody like to pitch in?

 

[DaveF]

Laser beams are the only way to bounce light off the Moon because only they are concentrated enough to remain tightly focused during the round trip of roughly half a million miles.

I feel compelled to quibble here I'd rather say "directional" than "concentrated." Laser beams can be highly directional; they spread out very little over distance. They are also extremely bright (large energy for the spot size, compared to other light sources). This is useful since, as the article says, the reflected light is much reduced after the round trip. (But, "concentrated" is a pretty good way to express all that concisely.)
Mmm... squishy goodness in the moon....

 

[Danny R]

They are funky to look into because all you see is your own eye

The weird thing is that your eye is always right in the very center where the 3 mirrors join up.

 

[Richard Travale]

Hmmm, interesting since we all know that the moon is actually a space station set up by aliens to monitor us anyway.

 

[BrettB]

I thought it was made of cheese.