By Stephen Ornes
February 9,2012
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/02/moon-twinkles-2/
Have you ever seen bright lights bursting from the moon? If not, then you probably will sometime in your lifetime, they have been observed over at least the last 500 years. Even thought the moon has no gravity nor gravitational pull, small space rockets always smash into it causing bright particles to burst. Scientists have been trying to figure out why we, from Earth, are able to see those lights through such a distance. "Scientist in Europe say the flashes come from scorching pieces of material kicked up from the lunar surface after the collisions." After studies, scientists found out that a rock as small as 10 centimeters in diameter, if it hits the moon its flashes will be seen from Earth. Most of the little asteroids that bang into the moon travel at 260,000 kilometers per hour producing a lot of energy (up to 70 kg of TNT). “Something is melting, and because it’s so hot, it [emits light] until it cools down,” Carolyn Ernst toldScience News. Scientist have been wondering if there might be "volcanoes" on the moon or if the light came from near by crashing satellites. However, knowing this information could help scientists learn about the moon.
I chose to read this article because it sounded interesting and its first lines were attention-catching. Also I found it amazing that small rocks can produce so much light to be seen from Earth even thought the moon and the Earth are not that close. I think it would be pretty amazing if these lights would appear during some celebration because they would probably blend in with the fireworks if it was during night.
I found a movie which I thought was interesting, it wasn't about moon lights but about what people are hoping to accomplish with the moon etc.
February 9,2012
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/02/moon-twinkles-2/
Have you ever seen bright lights bursting from the moon? If not, then you probably will sometime in your lifetime, they have been observed over at least the last 500 years. Even thought the moon has no gravity nor gravitational pull, small space rockets always smash into it causing bright particles to burst. Scientists have been trying to figure out why we, from Earth, are able to see those lights through such a distance. "Scientist in Europe say the flashes come from scorching pieces of material kicked up from the lunar surface after the collisions." After studies, scientists found out that a rock as small as 10 centimeters in diameter, if it hits the moon its flashes will be seen from Earth. Most of the little asteroids that bang into the moon travel at 260,000 kilometers per hour producing a lot of energy (up to 70 kg of TNT). “Something is melting, and because it’s so hot, it [emits light] until it cools down,” Carolyn Ernst toldScience News. Scientist have been wondering if there might be "volcanoes" on the moon or if the light came from near by crashing satellites. However, knowing this information could help scientists learn about the moon.
I chose to read this article because it sounded interesting and its first lines were attention-catching. Also I found it amazing that small rocks can produce so much light to be seen from Earth even thought the moon and the Earth are not that close. I think it would be pretty amazing if these lights would appear during some celebration because they would probably blend in with the fireworks if it was during night.
I found a movie which I thought was interesting, it wasn't about moon lights but about what people are hoping to accomplish with the moon etc.
Hi Alex! Thanks for sharing this video. Very interesting what we are trying to do, but that's a lot of money to just deliberately crash something into the moon. What are your thoughts on this?
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