The Moon has huge mountain ranges of comparable height to Earth's tallest peaks. They formed not by tectonic activity, though, but by meteor impacts. Over four billion years of pummeling, mostly on the far side of the moon, have blasted moon rock into piles up to 20,000 feet high tracing the edges of the craters.
Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere, and because its gravity is so weak, these steep mountain piles don't get eroded. Whereas Mount Everest will be gone in a billion years, the Moon's Mons Huygens will hold its shape indefinitely, perturbed only by the occasional impact of meteorites.
In her beautiful essay "You Be the Moon," Amy Leach reminds us: "Nothing makes a sound on the Moon and nothing ever could ... For sound is like birds and cannot travel without air." Just imagine for a moment the completely silent impact of an enormous meteor - the construction of a 20,000-foot mountain without a sound!
Incidentally, in 1934 the philosopher Alfred Ayer used the statement "there are mountains on the farther side of the moon" as an example of a scientific hypothesis that is conceivable and verifiable in theory, but might never be testable in practice.
Only 25 years later, a Soviet probe took pictures of mountains on the far side of the moon that rendered Ayer's statement correct - and his philosophical example obsolete. It is interesting to consider how impossible it seemed in his day to access the moon's dark side, and how soon afterwards we actually did. Perhaps string theorists, multiversers, and the like ought to feel heartened by this... but I'm not sure.
i like the bit about silence on the moon!
ReplyDeletei like the bit about silence on the moon!
ReplyDeleteyou ought to change "the dark side of the moon" to "the far side of the moon"
ReplyDeleteHere is an interesting tidbit that I thought went well with this post:
ReplyDeleteLong lost Soviet rover discovered on the moon's surface
The Russian-built Lunokhod 1 became the first remote controlled rover to land on another planet when it touched down on the lunar surface in 1970. It managed to continually operate for 11 months — opening up the lid of its tub-like body to reveal a solar panel when in the sun, and using a radioactive heater to keep warm in the dark — which means it would have been rolling around even as the Apollo 14 and 15 manned missions explored the moon's surface. After those 11 months, it lost contact with its ground controllers back in the Soviet Union.
Well, it looks like the Lunokhod 1 has turned back up, spotted thanks to a French-made reflector the rover sports, which was installed for this very reason: spotting it as it moved around. In practice, however, it's been very hard to pinpoint, and no one knew where the Lunokhod 1 was since it dropped out of contact.
Professor Tom Murphy, leading a team in California tasked with coming up with a precise measurement of the moon's orbit (and thereby further testing Einstein's theory of general relativity), is ecstatic at being able to shine some light on what the Lunokhod rover has been up to: "We yearned to find Lunokhod-1," he told The Register. "It would provide the best leverage for understanding the liquid lunar core, and for producing an accurate estimate of the position of the center of the moon--which is of paramount importance in mapping out the orbit and putting Einstein's gravity to a test."
"It's got a lot to say after almost 40 years of silence," Murphy added. He and his team are using a 3.5-meter telescope and a laser to pinpoint the rover's position on the surface on the moon.
Via dvice.com
Via The Register
http://dvice.com/archives/2010/04/long-lost-sovie.php
anonymous 1: thanks & thanks
ReplyDeleteanonymous 2: you're quite right
mav-rick: what a cool article! now i'm not only imagining mountains forming in silence, but a lunar module sitting in silence next to the silently forming mountains as well.
You made a connection for me. "Intelligent Design" believers, scoff at the "mere theories" of science. You know, "Evolution is only a 'Theory'."
ReplyDeleteYou may try to explain to them that a "theory", in science, has already surpassed the "hypothesis" hurdle and is well on it's way to proven "fact".
Usually, that is entirely too subtle a distinction for a "Intelligent Designerist" to grasp. Your example is a perfect example of a hypothesis. I just find it frustrating that there is no intermediate "theory". It just jumped from hypothesis to fact. Were it otherwise, it would make a beautiful illustration.
Oh, and BTW, I just learned of your site from http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2010/04/27/blogginess/.
I thank Cosmic Variance for point you out. I thank you for what you've written. The only gripe I have about your site is, when I found it for the first time, you destroyed the rest of my day while I read all the fascinating stuff you've written! Thanks! Great Work!
Thanks C. White, for your input. It's not all the fault of intelligent design believers, or lay people in general, that they find the distinctions between hypotheses, theories, and facts to be confusing. Even within the scientific community there is mis-use of the terms and ambiguity. For example, string theory is certainly not well on its way to fact status, whereas evolutionary theory is. Perhaps we're all confused about the definitions!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, thank you for reading!
Oh.. i was not knowing about it I thought moon to b quite
ReplyDeleteI have been reading few posts and enjoyed your writing. It was really an awesome read.
ReplyDeletenice posting about moon, good information and a new thing.
ReplyDeletethan q for sharing
It is really very nice post .
ReplyDelete