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is this truth about moon?(did the moon split)

Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:09 am
by the0ne
I heard that one day the moon was splitted and then reattached.
is this truth?

Re: is this truth about moon?

Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 9:23 am
by neufer
the0ne wrote:
I heard that one day the moon was splitted and then reattached.

is this truth?
Perhaps you are referring to this apocryphal story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno_%28crater%29 wrote:
<<Five monks from Canterbury reported to the abbey's chronicler, Gervase, that
shortly after sunset on June 18, 1178, they saw two horns of light on the shaded part of the moon:
  • "This year, on the evening of June 18, when the moon, a slim crescent,
    first became visible, a marvelous phenomenon was seen by several men
    who were watching it. Suddenly the upper horn of the crescent was split
    in two. From the midpoint of the division a flaming torch sprang up,
    spewing out over a considerable distance fire, hot coals and sparks.
    The body of the moon which was below writhed like a wounded snake.
    This happened a dozen times or more, and when the moon returned to
    normal, the whole crescent took on a blackish appearance.
    ">>

Re: is this truth about moon?

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:29 am
by the0ne
thanks neufer,
I didn't see this before but i heard a king in india report that they see the moon splitted and this report is kept in Great Britain museum.

Re: is this truth about moon?

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 4:50 am
by Ann
The Moon is full of craters, and those craters must have been created at one time or another. If there was a substantial impact on the Moon, particularly if it happened when the Moon looked like a thin crescent, and the impact affected the illuminated part, then it is not unreasonable that the Moon might look as if it had been split.

But as far as I know, astronomers have not found the largish crater that ought to stick out like a sore thumb if it was created in the twelfth century (some 800 years ago - bear in mind that most craters on the moon are millions or even billion years old). Until the crater is found, I'm going to regard the story as a product of a time consumed by religious fantasies and stories about the coming end of the world. Such as our own time, that is! No, the difference is that if an event like the one described had happened in our own time it would almost certainly have been recorded by one amateur astronomer or another. And if not, at least NASA should have been able to ascertain whether or not there was a substantial brand new crater on the Moon.

Ann

Re: is this truth about moon?

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 6:15 am
by the0ne
thanks Ann
and how long can this event appear on the sky?
does it long an hour or two?

Re: is this truth about moon?

Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 3:12 pm
by Chris Peterson
the0ne wrote:and how long can this event appear on the sky?
does it long an hour or two?
All meteors which have been observed to hit the Moon produce flashes lasting a fraction of a second, and no plumes. There are a few anecdotal reports of larger strikes, where the flash lasted a few seconds and a plume was visible for an hour or more (which is fairly consistent with what you'd expect). Nothing larger has occurred during human history- if so, we would have observed the new crater. Anything short of a massive strike, however, would not produce visible light for more than seconds.

Re: is this truth about moon?(did the moon split)

Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:29 pm
by rriverstone
Ann, Sagan describes the entire Canterbury incident in "Cosmos," Episode 4. It even animates the dust cloud from the impact, that gave the appearance that the Moon "split." He says there is a crater. He says there is verification that the moon still vibrates from the impact. Is this incorrect? The story begins apx. 2 minute in to this piece of tape:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Can't get codes to function, so don't know if link will post live, but you can copy & paste into browser window.

Re: is this truth about moon?(did the moon split)

Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:53 pm
by bystander
rriverstone wrote:Can't get codes to function, so don't know if link will post live, but you can copy & paste into browser window.
Help on using BBCode

Re: is this truth about moon?(did the moon split)

Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 8:00 pm
by rriverstone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3xfdKLRkYQ apx. 2 minutes in.

Sorry, The problem was that I have NoScript installed, and didn't have all the necessary scripts functioning for this forum. should post fine now? :facepalm: