Everything Moon

[BROOK]

Mining the Moon

BY William Stone // June 2009
This is part of IEEE Spectrum's Special Report: Why Mars? Why Now?
Planetary geologists speculate that the moon’s polar craters may hold billions of tons of hydrogen, perhaps even in the form of water ice. Intriguing evidence returned by the Lunar Prospector and the Clementine probes in the 1990s seemed to support this idea. The latest raft of lunar missions, including Chandrayaan-1 and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, may confirm it. In situ prospecting could then determine the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the hydrogen.
Discovering rich concentrations of hydrogen on the moon would open up a universe of possibilities—literally. Rocket fuels and consumables that now cost an average of US $10 000 per kilogram to loft could instead be produced on the moon much more cheaply. For the first time, access to space would be truly economical. At last, people would be able to begin new ventures, including space tourism, space-debris cleanup, satellite refueling, and interplanetary voyages.

Lunar prospecting will cost a lot of money—perhaps $20 billion over a decade. Rovers would have to descend into the polar craters to sample the deposits and test for ice, and then move on to other spots to form an overall map, much as wildcatters do every day in oil fields. At the moment, no country seems eager to foot the bill. But where governments fail to act on a vitally important opportunity, the private sector can and should step in.
Two years ago, I and a group of like-minded businessmen, expeditionary explorers, and space-systems managers and engineers formed the Shackleton Energy Co. in Del Valle, Texas, to conduct lunar prospecting. Should we find significant reserves of ice, we would then establish a network of refueling service stations in low Earth orbit and on the moon to process and provide fuel and consumables. Like modern highway service stations, these celestial stations would be able to refuel space vehicles of all kinds and would be positioned at key transportation nodes; an obvious spot would be near the International Space Station.
Such stations would radically change the way nearly every space system is designed. No longer would you have to carry your fuel and water into orbit with you. Entirely new classes of space vehicles would become possible, ones that operate only at and beyond low Earth orbit, such as vehicles for orbital transfer and satellite repair. Today launch systems must be designed to withstand the punishing effects of high-speed atmospheric drag, pressure, vibration, and heating that occur on the way to space. Protecting the rocket and its payload adds enormously to launch costs. But a vehicle that is designed from the start to operate only in space—say, between low Earth orbit and the moon—is not bound by the same design rules.
We would also be able to clear up the ever-growing space debris problem. There’d be plenty of fuel for maneuvering satellites and other spacecraft to avoid debris, and you could also deploy cleanup vehicles to remove obsolete materials from orbit. Within a decade or two, we would soon see the dawn of a new age of space exploration, space tourism, and space business ventures.


So where exactly is the raw material, and how will we retrieve it? The most likely place to look is within the regolith—the loose surface material—at the bottom of lunar craters, such as Shackleton Crater at the moon’s south pole. The cold interior of this crater may act as a trap that captures volatiles like water and hydrogen, which scientists believe may have been shed by comets and asteroids that collided with the moon. In the 1990s, the Lunar Prospector spacecraft sensed unexpectedly high amounts of hydrogen in the polar regions, which may indicate the presence of water ice. NASA has considered Shackleton Crater as the site for the first lunar outpost under its Constellation program, which envisions returning astronauts to the moon by 2020.
Assuming the ice exists and can be extracted, our plan calls for establishing a fuel-processing operation on the lunar surface. The first step would be to melt the ice and purify the water. Next, we’d electrolyze the water into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, and then condense the gases into liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and also process them into hydrogen peroxide, all of which could be used as rocket fuels. Should other volatiles like ammonia or methane be discovered, they, too, would be processed into fuel, fertilizer, and other useful products.
Getting the fuels and other consumables from the moon into low Earth orbit will be relatively cheap. Because of the peculiarities of celestial mechanics, such a haul requires just 1/14th to 1/20th of the fuel it takes to bring material up from Earth.
Prospecting within the crater won’t be easy, of course. It’s extremely cold (a steady −173 °C) and perpetually dark—like an Antarctic winter but worse, because it’s constant. Also, the moon’s low gravitational field makes excavating that much trickier than it is back on Earth. Our plan therefore calls for developing a new generation of highly reliable, human-tended robotic machinery that would be built to withstand even that harsh environment. We think it can be done. We won’t know unless we try.


hree elements are essential for the commercial success of our operation. First, to save about $1 billion during the initial staging of the lunar mining base, the first human team will take only enough fuel to land and establish the base—not enough for a return trip to Earth. This may sound radical, but the human crew who will undertake this mission will do so knowing that their success and survival depend on in situ fuel generation for the return. Should they fail, theirs will be a one-way trip; the risk is theirs to take. For government-sponsored space agencies, such a concept is unthinkable; they cannot tolerate the political risk of failure. Yet it is the only viable business choice. Centuries of explorers made the same hard choice in pushing the limits on land, sea, and air. It’s time to carry it forward into space. This is not reckless bravado but calculated risk management to satisfy mission needs and affordability.
Second, we need a relatively inexpensive means of returning to low Earth orbit. To do that involves the dissipation of nearly 3 kilometers per second of excess velocity. Decelerating with rocket propellant alone would be prohibitively expensive—we’d be ”eating the seed corn.” So we plan to do it with actively controlled aerobraking. The water-laden spacecraft will repeatedly dip into and skip out of the upper atmosphere, losing some velocity with each dip, until it ultimately ends up in the orbit of the fueling station. This same maneuver was previously used only for much smaller planetary robotic missions, such as Magellan and the Mars Global Surveyor, but the physics and engineering are well understood. We intend to take the concept to an industrial scale, which would have obvious applications for other space missions.
Third, we plan to rely on inflatable structures. Constructed of multilayer fabrics shielded with Kevlar or other strong materials and banded by steel exoskeletons, these structures could provide most of our habitation, storage, and transportation requirements. They would be both lighter and less expensive than traditional spacecraft. A number of companies have done extensive R&D on such inflatable space structures, including Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace, which has even lofted two test modules to low Earth orbit.


Reliance on such technologies will decrease the cost of our operation, but it still will not be cheap. We estimate that establishing a lunar mining outpost and low-Earth-orbit fueling network will cost about $20 billion and take about a decade to put in place. That may sound like a lot, but in terms of complexity it’s comparable to a North Sea oil production complex. And it’s just a third of what the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco said it will spend on oil and gas projects over the next five years.
We live in interesting times. Right now, the technology, opportunity, and need to undertake such a mission are converging. Global tensions over resources, energy, and the environmental balance will only intensify in the coming years. New technologies may solve some of these problems, but ultimately we must look further afield for answers.
The Shackleton project offers a solution. We seek the boldest and most imaginative managers, policy makers, investors, engineers, and explorers to partner with us and to ignite the Earth-moon economy. It is time for the private sector to take the lead in creating new markets and expanding humanity’s presence in space. Governments cannot and will not do it by themselves anytime soon. Our company is prepared to open up space to those who have the vision, stamina, and wherewithal to make it a reality. Join us!
For more articles, go to Special Report: Why Mars? Why Now?
About the Author

William Stone is an aerospace engineer and explorer. He serves as the chairman of Shackleton Energy Co., based in Del Valle, Texas.


http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aerospa...ining-the-moon

[BROOK]

The Moon

XVIII – Here we see dogs barking at the Moon, one is light and one is dark, the crab comes from the water to join them. Two towers in the background, the creek running through the land into the mountains. Quite a lovely and calming scene, this describes what the Moon brings us. The quiet calm, the Moon and the water both reminds us of the tides and the fact that we are all of us very dependent on the ebb and flow of life, as well as the polarities such as negative and positive. The Moon is a reminder of these things and how they are necessary in life.

The Moon is also a reflection of the Sun; it is the reflective or the female side. Often the Sun is thought of as masculine and the Moon then represents the feminine. The Moon is said to be associated with dreams and the night. It also indicates a sensitivity that can be very psychic or intuitive, particularly when it comes to emotions. With this energy there is a mediumistic or psychic ability. We all have this in us, but there are times when each of us will be more sensitive then others.

In the right side up position, the Moon can indicate that the person being read can count on their gut, that their own intuitive ability could be very clear at this time. This is when you can assure or be assured that you already know on a visceral level what is going on or what it is that you need to do.

Upside down, you would have the opposite situation. Here the person being read is going through some kind of storm or turmoil and as a result they have no intuitive ability, they cannot trust what they are feeling inside, if they even feel anything of any clarity at all. These are usually those times when we feel that there is no clarity to what is happening to us. We feel like a ship that has done a drift and how things will work out is beyond our understanding.

This is a great card for meditation to deepen your clarity or understanding. It can be a great meditation to work on your dream life, (the ones you have while sleeping.) This can be a good card for understanding not only the cycles of life, but also how the unconscious level or the intuitive level of ourselves can have a greater strength in our evolution as humankind. To understand the power and the greatness of what can sometimes be called the darker realms of our existence. How being reflective and sensitive can greatly enhance our lives and help us to remain even more conscious an awake in our daily lives.

Return to the Major Arcana article list
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DG%26um%3D1

[Luminari]

Lunacy! Moon Madness I say watson, what brings on this sudden Lunar Obsession of Lunaphilic Luminosity?

I vaguely remember a dream (or was it) from last night involving a beautiful starship in the sky and lights moving and blinking on the moon. Wish I had full recall.

[BROOK]

Originally Posted by Luminari

Lunacy! Moon Madness I say watson, what brings on this sudden Lunar Obsession of Lunaphilic Luminosity?

I vaguely remember a dream (or was it) from last night involving a beautiful starship in the sky and lights moving and blinking on the moon. Wish I had full recall.

It's the first step out into the universe Lunatic Fringe

YouTube - Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe

[orthodoxymoron]

Has anyone provided a reasonable explanation as to why the moon does not spin...and always presents the same side to Earth? The moon is completely different than Earth...which suggests that it's not from around here. The moon is approximately the same visual size as the sun...allowing total solar eclipses to occur. Then there is that creepy full moon effect...which is hard to deny...and which may have a creepy explanation. Plus...it is very, very strange that we were in such a hurry to go to the moon...and then stopped going after just a few missions(if we really went!). And what about all of the craters? Have we seen any new craters in the centuries of observation? Could the craters be the result of millions of years of countless wars?

It wouldn't surprise me if most of the planets and moons in this solar system contained subsurface bases...inhabited by a variety of races...human and non-human. Maybe they are just waiting for us to blow ourselves up...so they can move in. Maybe they are placing bets. What do you think our odds of survival are?

[BROOK]

Originally Posted by orthodoxymoron

Has anyone provided a reasonable explanation as to why the moon does not spin...and always presents the same side to Earth? The moon is completely different than Earth...which suggests that it's not from around here. The moon is approximately the same visual size as the sun...allowing total solar eclipses to occur. Then there is that creepy full moon effect...which is hard to deny...and which may have a creepy explanation. Plus...it is very, very strange that we were in such a hurry to go to the moon...and then stopped going after just a few missions(if we really went!). And what about all of the craters? Have we seen any new craters in the centuries of observation? Could the craters be the result of millions of years of countless wars?

It wouldn't surprise me if most of the planets and moons in this solar system contained subsurface bases...inhabited by a variety of races...human and non-human. Maybe they are just waiting for us to blow ourselves up...so they can move in. Maybe they are placing bets. What do you think our odds of survival are?

They must think we're Lunatics

[Luminari]

Originally Posted by Luminari

the moon is a gigantic extraterrestrial craft, brought here eons ago by intelligent beings. This is the only theory that is supported by all of the data, and there are no data that contradict this theory..

..symbols on the wall of the Courtyard of Kalasasaya, near the city of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, which record that the moon came into orbit around the Earth between 11,500 and 13,000 years ago.

[Orion11]

..symbols on the wall of the Courtyard of Kalasasaya, near the city of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, which record that the moon came into orbit around the Earth between 11,500 and 13,000 years ago.

that is interesting for sure!! thanks!

got some stuff to look up.. lol

[Dantheman62]

Yes Orthodoxymoron, the moon rotates!..................

Be a little careful . . . the Moon does rotate. If you stood on the Moon, the stars would rise and set, just like they do on Earth, except that a lunar day is a month long, the same as the Moon's orbital period. The Moon rotates at just the right speed so that it always keeps one face pointed toward the Earth, which seems like a pretty big coincidence, doesn't it?

Your question is very interesting because the answer is that, no, the Moon is not unique. Almost all moons in the Solar System keep one face pointed toward their planet. (The only exception we know of is Hyperion, a moon of Saturn.) This tells us it's probably not a coincidence, that there is probably a reason for this to happen, a physical process that happens to most moons to slow their rotation.

That process is called tidal friction. You probably know that the Moon's gravity affects the Earth's oceans. Well, the Earth's gravity also affects the Moon. It distorts the Moon's shape slightly, squashing it out so that it is elongated along a line that points toward the Earth. We say that the Earth raises "tidal bulges" on the Moon.


The Earth's gravity pulls on the closest tidal bulge, trying to keep it aligned with Earth. As the Moon turns, feeling the Earth's gravity, this creates friction within the Moon, slowing the Moon's rotation down until its rotation matches its orbital period exactly, a state we call tidal synchronization. In this state, the Moon's tidal bulge is always aligned with Earth, which means that the Moon always keeps one face toward Earth.

Other planets raise tides on their moons, too, so almost all the moons in the Solar System are tidally synchronized. There's even one planet that is sychronized to its moon! Charon, Pluto's moon, is so large and so close to Pluto that the planet and moon are both locked into the same rotational rate. The Moon slows the Earth's rotation, too, but at a very slow rate, increasing the length of the day by a couple of milliseconds each century.

You might be wondering what's up with Hyperion. Gravitational interaction with other moons of Saturn cause Hyperion to tumble chaotically, so Saturn doesn't even get a chance at tidal synchronization before Hyperion's rotational state is changed by another moon. There may be other small moons that behave in this manner, as well, but it is difficult to measure the rotational periods of small moons around distant planets, so we don't know of any yet.



I think all the craters are there because it has no atmosphere to protect it, like we do.
Most everything that hits us gets burned up in the atmosphere before it hits.

[Orion11]

whole mess of stuff...

STRANGE MOON FACTS

link

The moon is the Rosetta stone of the planets." —Robert Jastrow, First Chairman, NASA Lunar Exploration Committee

After hundreds of years of detailed observation and study, our closest companion in the vast universe, Earth’s moon, remains an enigma. Six moon landings and hundreds of experiments have resulted in more questions being asked than answered. Among them:

1. Moon’s Age: The moon is far older than previously expected. Maybe even older than the Earth or the Sun. The oldest age for the Earth is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old; moon rocks were dated at 5.3 billion years old, and the dust upon which they were resting was at least another billion years older.

2. Rock’s Origin: The chemical composition of the dust upon which the rocks sat differed remarkably from the rocks themselves, contrary to accepted theories that the dust resulted from weathering and breakup of the rocks themselves. The rocks had to have come from somewhere else.

3. Heavier Elements on Surface: Normal planetary composition results in heavier elements in the core and lighter materials at the surface; not so with the moon. According to Wilson, "The abundance of refractory elements like titanium in the surface areas is so pronounced that several geologists proposed the refractory compounds were brought to the moon’s surface in great quantity in some unknown way. They don’t know how, but that it was done cannot be questioned." (Emphasis added).

4. Water Vapor: On March 7, 1971, lunar instruments placed by the astronauts recorded a vapor cloud of water passing across the surface of the moon. The cloud lasted 14 hours and covered an area of about 100 square miles.

5. Magnetic Rocks: Moon rocks were magnetized. This is odd because there is no magnetic field on the moon itself. This could not have originated from a "close call" with Earth—such an encounter would have ripped the moon apart.

6. No Volcanoes: Some of the moon’s craters originated internally, yet there is no indication that the moon was ever hot enough to produce volcanic eruptions.

7. Moon Mascons: Mascons, which are large, dense, circular masses lying twenty to forty miles beneath the centers of the moon’s maria, "are broad, disk-shaped objects that could be possibly some kind of artificial construction. For huge circular disks are not likely to be beneath each huge maria, centered like bull’s-eyes in the middle of each, by coincidence or accident." (Emphasis added).

8. Seismic Activity: Hundreds of "moonquakes" are recorded each year that cannot be attributed to meteor strikes. In November, 1958, Soviet astronomer Nikolay A. Kozyrev of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory photographed a gaseous eruption of the moon near the crater Alphonsus. He also detected a reddish glow that lasted for about an hour. In 1963, astronomers at the Lowell Observatory also saw reddish glows on the crests of ridges in the Aristarchus region. These observations have proved to be precisely identical and periodical, repeating themselves as the moon moves closer to the Earth. These are probably not natural phenomena.

9. Hollow Moon: The moon’s mean density is 3.34 gm/cm3 (3.34 times an equal volume of water) whereas the Earth’s is 5.5. What does this mean? In 1962, NASA scientist Dr. Gordon MacDonald stated, "If the astronomical data are reduced, it is found that the data require that the interior of the moon is more like a hollow than a homogeneous sphere." Nobel chemist Dr. Harold Urey suggested the moon’s reduced density is because of large areas inside the moon where is "simply a cavity." MIT’s Dr. Sean C. Solomon wrote, "the Lunar Orbiter experiments vastly improved our knowledge of the moon’s gravitational field . . . indicating the frightening possibility that the moon might be hollow." In Carl Sagan’s treatise, Intelligent Life in the Universe, the famous astronomer stated, "A natural satellite cannot be a hollow object."

10. Moon Echoes: On November 20, 1969, the Apollo 12 crew jettisoned the lunar module ascent stage causing it to crash onto the moon. The LM’s impact (about 40 miles from the Apollo 12 landing site) created an artificial moonquake with startling characteristics—the moon reverberated like a bell for more than an hour. This phenomenon was repeated with Apollo 13 (intentionally commanding the third stage to impact the moon), with even more startling results. Seismic instruments recorded that the reverberations lasted for three hours and twenty minutes and traveled to a depth of twenty-five miles, leading to the conclusion that the moon has an unusually light—or even no—core.

11. Unusual Metals: The moon’s crust is much harder than presumed. Remember the extreme difficulty the astronauts encountered when they tried to drill into the maria? Surprise! The maria is composed primarily illeminite, a mineral containing large amounts of titanium, the same metal used to fabricate the hulls of deep-diving submarines and the skin of the SR-71 "Blackbird". Uranium 236 and neptunium 237 (elements not found in nature on Earth) were discovered in lunar rocks, as were rustproof iron particles.

12. Moon’s Origin: Before the astronauts’ moon rocks conclusively disproved the theory, the moon was believed to have originated when a chunk of Earth broke off eons ago (who knows from where?). Another theory was that the moon was created from leftover "space dust" remaining after the Earth was created. Analysis of the composition of moon rocks disproved this theory also. Another popular theory is that the moon was somehow "captured" by the Earth’s gravitational attraction. But no evidence exists to support this theory. Isaac Asimov, stated, "It’s too big to have been captured by the Earth. The chances of such a capture having been effected and the moon then having taken up nearly circular orbit around our Earth are too small to make such an eventuality credible."

13. Weird Orbit: Our moon is the only moon in the solar system that has a stationary, near-perfect circular orbit. Stranger still, the moon’s center of mass is about 6000 feet closer to the Earth than its geometric center (which should cause wobbling), but the moon’s bulge is on the far side of the moon, away from the Earth. "Something" had to put the moon in orbit with its precise altitude, course, and speed.

14. Moon Diameter: How does one explain the "coincidence" that the moon is just the right distance, coupled with just the right diameter, to completely cover the sun during an eclipse? Again, Isaac Asimov responds, "There is no astronomical reason why the moon and the sun should fit so well. It is the sheerest of coincidences, and only the Earth among all the planets is blessed in this fashion."

15. Spaceship Moon: As outrageous as the Moon-Is-a-Spaceship Theory is, all of the above items are resolved if one assumes that the moon is a gigantic extraterrestrial craft, brought here eons ago by intelligent beings. This is the only theory that is supported by all of the data, and there are no data that contradict this theory.

Greek authors Aristotle and Plutarch, and Roman authors Apolllonius Rhodius and Ovid all wrote of a group of people called the Proselenes who lived in the central mountainous area of Greece called Arcadia The Proselenes claimed title to this area because their forebears were there "before there was a moon in the heavens." This claim is substantiated by symbols on the wall of the Courtyard of Kalasasaya, near the city of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia, which record that the moon came into orbit around the Earth between 11,500 and 13, 000 years ago, long before recorded history.

1. Ages of Flashes: Aristarchus, Plato, Eratosthenes, Biela, Rabbi Levi, and Posidonius all reported anomalous lights on the moon. NASA, one year before the first lunar landing, reported 570+ lights and flashes were observed on the moon from 1540 to 1967.

2. Operation Moon Blink: NASA’s Operation Moon Blink detected 28 lunar events in a relatively short period of time.

3. Lunar Bridge: On July 29, 1953, John J. O’Neill observed a 12-mile-long bridge straddling the crater Mare Crisium. In August, British astronomer Dr. H.P. Wilkens verified its presence, "It looks artificial. It’s almost incredible that such a thing could have been formed in the first instance, or if it was formed, could have lasted during the ages in which the moon has been in existence.

4. The Shard: The Shard, an obelisk-shaped object that towers 1½ miles from the Ukert area of the moon’s surface, was discovered by Orbiter

3 in 1968. Dr. Bruce Cornet, who studied the amazing photographs, stated, "No known natural process can explain such a structure."

5. The Tower: One of the most curious features ever photographed on the Lunar surface (Lunar Orbiter photograph III-84M) is an amazing spire that rises more than 5 miles from the Sinus Medii region of the lunar surface.

6. The Obelisks: Lunar Orbiter II took several photographs in November 1966 that showed several obelisks, one of which was more than 150 feet tall. ". . . the spires were arranged in precisely the same was as the apices of the three great pyramids."

Don Ecker, Long Saga of Lunar Anomalies, UFO magazine, Vol. 10, Nol 2 (March/April 1995), p. 23.
Six Mysterious Statuesque Shadows Photographed on the Moon by Orbiter, The Washington Post, Nov. 22, 1966, p. 1.



SPACECONSPIRACY: Moon, where are you from?

By Yingzhong Lu, selected from The Crown, 499, September 1995

When did the moon first accompany our earth?
Perhaps it has been
looking at the earth long before human beings appeared on earth. People say
that there is a Freezing-Cold Palace on the moon where an ancient beauty
named Chang-E lives, along with a white rabbit and a man called Wu Gang,
whose daily work is to chop cassia trees. Nonetheless, the American
astronauts from the Apollo 11 mission to the moon on July 19, 1969 did not
see the Freezing-Cold Palace, nor Lady Chang-E and her rabbit, nor Wu Gang
and his cassia trees. Many of us charmed by the legend were somewhat
disappointed by the scientific findings.

Twenty-six years have passed since the first moon landing, yet human
beings are no wiser than before about the moon. On the contrary, scientists
are now perplexed by the data gathered by the instruments left on the moon.

When we look at the moon at night, we a have familiar yet strange feeling.
We can't help but ask, "Dear moon, could you tell us about your true self?"
At present, there are three theories to explain how the moon
originated. The first one is that the dust and gaseous clouds from the
universe formed the moon, just like our earth, 4.6 billion years ago. The
second theory is that the moon was thrown off from the earth and the Pacific
Ocean is the place from which it came. The third theory believes that the
moon was an independent planet that was captured by the earth's
gravitational force when passing by, and it has been revolving around the
earth ever since.

Most scientists initially believed in the first theory, although some
favoured the second one. Yet, analysis of the moon soil samples brought
back by astronauts indicates that the composition of the moon is different
from that of the earth. The earth has more iron and less silicon deposited
in it, while the moon is just the opposite. In addition, the earth has very
few titanium ores, whereas the moon has many. These findings show that the
moon was not separated from the earth. By the same token, the first
hypothesis is also shaky. If the moon and earth were formed through the
same process, at around the same time, then why are they so different in
their composition? Scientists have abandoned the first theory, which leaves
only the last theory. If the moon entered the solar system from outer
space, it should have flown towards the Sun instead of being held by the
earth, because of the sun's much stronger gravitational pull.
None of the three hypotheses proposed by orthodox scientists answers
all of the questions or holds up to scrutiny. The origin of the moon still
remains a mystery. There is plenty of room for people to propose new
theories on the origin of the moon. No matter how ridiculous the theories
may seem, they should not be lightly labeled nonscientific.

The Peculiar Phenomena Between the Sun, Earth, and Moon

Let's take a look at and think about some of the unbelievably peculiar
astronomical phenomena that occur between the sun, earth and moon.
The average distance between the earth and the moon is 380,000 km, and
between the sun and the earth is about 150,000,000 km. The latter is about
395 times further than the former. The diameter of the sun is about
1,380,000 km, while that of the moon is 3,400 km; the ratio of the two is
again 395 times greater. Both ratios are 395. Could it be a coincidence?
What does it mean?
Please think about it. The sun is 395 times larger than the moon, yet
it is 395 times farther away from the earth than the moon. The two appear
the same size when seen from earth because of the distance differences.

Is this a natural or artificial phenomenon? Where in the universe can one find
three celestial bodies with this kind of coincidence?

The two planets shine on the earth in turns, one during the day and
the other at night. There is not another example of such phenomena in our
solar system. The prestigious scientist, Isaac Asimov, once said that,
according to all the data available, the moon in principle should not exist
in that position. He also said, "The moon is big enough to result in a
solar eclipse, yet small enough to generate corona. Our astronomy just
can't explain the coincidence among the coincidences."

Is it really a coincidence? Not really, according to some scientists.
William R. Sheldon, a scientist, said, "In order to orbit around the earth,
a spaceship has to maintain a velocity of 10,800 miles per hour at a height
of 100 miles. Similarly, in order for the moon to keep itself in its orbit
to balance the earth's gravitational force, it also needs accurate velocity,
self-weight, and altitude." The question is: if the current set of
conditions is impossible to achieve by nature, why are they this way?

It's Too Big to be a Satellite

There are several planets in the solar system that have naturally
occurring satellites. However, the moon is unnaturally large for a
satellite. It is too large in comparison to its parent planet. Let us take
a look at the following data. The earth's diameter is 12,756 km; the moon's
is 3,467 km, which is about 27% that of the earth's. Mars' diameter is
6,787 km. Mars has two satellites. The larger one has a diameter of 23 km,
about 0.34% that of Mars. Jupiter's diameter is 142,800 km. It has 13
satellites. The largest one has a diameter of 5,000 km, which is 3.5% of
Jupiter's. Saturn's diameter is 120,000 km. It has 23 satellites. The
largest one has a diameter of 4,500 km, which is about 3.75% of Saturn's
diameter. None of the satellites has a diameter exceeding 5% of the parent
planet's diameter, but the moon's is 27% of the earth's diameter. Isn't the
moon unnaturally large by comparison? The data indeed indicates that the
moon is extraordinary.

The Meteorite Craters Are All Too Shallow

Scientists tell us that the craters on the surface of the moon were
caused by the impact of meteors or comets. There are also meteorite craters
on earth. According to scientific calculations, if a meteorite of several
miles in diameter hits the earth or the moon at a speed of 30,000 miles per
second, which is equivalent to one million tons of dynamite, the depth of
the crater it creates should be four to five times that of its diameter.
The meteorite craters on earth prove this to be correct. Yet the craters on
the moon are strangely shallow. For example, Gagrin Crater, the deepest
one, is only four miles deep, although its diameter is 186 miles. With a
diameter of 186 miles, the depth of the crater should be at least 700 miles,
instead of 4 miles, which is just 12% of the diameter. This is another
scientific impossibility.
Why is it so? Astronomers are unable to come up with a perfect
explanation and they don't seem to want to either. They know that a perfect
explanation would overturn established theories. The only explanation is
that the moon's crust is composed of a very hard substance four miles
beneath the surface. The meteorites have failed to penetrate this hard
layer. Then, what is the very hard substance?

Metals Whose Existence is Impossible

It is not strange that the moon craters have a great deal of lava.
What is strange is that the lava contains rich metal elements such as
titanium, chromium, yttrium, etc., which are rarely found on earth. Those
metals are all very hard and resistant to both high temperatures and
corrosion. Scientists estimate that it requires 2000-3000( C to melt these
metals. But the moon has been a dead and cold planet without volcanic
activity for three billion years. How did the moon generate so many kinds
of metals that require such high temperatures to melt? Moreover, analysis
of the 380 kg of moon soil samples brought back by astronauts shows that
there is pure iron and pure titanium. Such pure metal deposits just aren't
found under natural conditions.
What do the unexplainable facts tell us? They have undoubtedly
demonstrated that these metal elements were not formed under natural
conditions, but were extracted. Then the questions is by whom and when?

The Side that Can't Be Seen from the Earth

It is always the same side of the moon that faces the earth. Man did
not see the opposite side until the spaceship landed there and photographed
it. Astronomers had always thought that the backside should be similar to
the front with many meteorite craters and lava seas. But the photographs
showed a much different scene. The backside of the moon is very bumpy.
Most are small craters and mountain ranges with very few lava seas.
Scientists are unable to explain the differences. In theory, the
probability of being hit by meteorites should be the same for both sides of
the moon if it was a naturally formed planet. Why is there a difference?
Why is it always the same side of the moon that faces the earth? The
explanation from the scientists is that the moon rotates around its own axis
with a velocity of 16.56 km per hour, and it also revolves around the earth
at exactly the same speed. Thus the same side always faces the earth.
This phenomenon does not exist for any other planet and its satellites
in our solar system-only for our earth and moon. Is it another coincidence
along with the other coincidences? Is there an explanation other than
coincidence?

Strange Phenomena in the Past Hundreds of Years

For the last 300 hundred years, astronomers have observed many
unexplainable phenomena about the moon. Casini discovered a cluster of
clouds over the moon in 1671. In April 1786, William Herser, the father of
modern astronomy, observed the signs of volcanic eruptions on the moon,
although scientists believe that there has not been any volcanic activity on
the moon for 3 billion years. Then, what was observed that looked like
volcanic eruptions?
In 1843, German astronomer John Schicoto, who made hundreds of maps of
the moon, found that the Leany Crater, with an original diameter of several
kilometers, was becoming smaller. Today, the Leany Crater is only a tiny
spot with white sediment surrounding it. Scientists do not know why. On
April 24, 1882, scientists discovered that there were unidentified objects
moving on the surface in the Aristocrat's Zone. On October 19, 1945, the
Darwin Wall on the surface of the moon was observed to have three shiny
points on it.
On the evening of July 6, 1954, the head of the Minnesota Observatory
and his assistants saw a dark line inside the Picallomy Crater, which
shortly disappeared. On September 8, 1955, lightning appeared twice along
the edge of the Ross Crater. Again on February 9, 1956, Dr. Toyota, Meiji
University, Japan, saw several dark objects that seemed to have formed the
shape of letters DYAX and JWA.
On February 4, 1966, a Russian unmanned space-vehicle, Moon Goddess 9,
landed on the Rain Sea and photographed two rows of pyramid-like structures
that were equidistant from each other. Dr. Van Sunder stated, "They could
strongly reflect the sunlight, pretty much like the marks on runways."
Calculated from the length of the shadows, the structures are about as high
as a fifteen-story building. Dr. Van Sunder said, "There were no highlands
nearby from which the rocks would have rolled over to the current positions
to form the geometrical shapes."
Additionally, Moon Goddess 9 also photographed a mysterious cave on
the edge of the Stormy Sea. Moon research expert Dr. Wilkins believes that
these circular caves go directly to the center of the moon. Wilkins himself
once discovered a gigantic cave at Casiny Crater A. On November 20, 1966,
American Orbit 2 Exploration Spaceship photographed several pyramid-like
structures from 46 km above the Tranquility Sea. Scientists estimated that
the pyramids are 15 to 25 metres high and that they are also geometrically
positioned. The structures are lighter in colour than the rocks and soil
around them and they are obviously not natural objects.
On September 11, 1967, the Montelow Team of astronomers discovered a
"black cloud with purple borders" over the Tranquility Sea. The strange
phenomena were not observed by laypeople, but by astronomers and spaceship
probes. This means that the moon does have many mysteries unknown to human
beings.

UFO over the Moon

On November 24, 1968, Apollo 8, while investigating future landing
spots, encountered a colossal floating object that occupied several square
miles. When Apollo 8 came back to the same spot from its orbital lap around
the moon, the object was no longer there. What was it? No one knows.
Apollo 10, while at 50,000 feet above the moon, was approached by an
unidentified flying object. This encounter was documented on film. On July
19, 1969, Apollo 11 carried three astronauts to the moon who later became
the first men on the moon. En route to the moon, the astronauts saw an
unusual object in front of them. Viewing at a distance of about 6,000
miles, they initially thought that it must be the rocket propeller from the
Apollo 4. Looking through binoculars, they found that the object was
L-shaped. "It looked like an opened briefcase," said Armstrong. Looking
further through a sextant, they found the object looked like a cylinder.
Another astronaut, Aldrin, said, "We also saw several smaller objects
passing by, causing turbulence to our ship, then we saw this brighter object
flying by." On July 21, when Aldrin entered the Landing Capsule for final
check-up, he suddenly saw two floating objects. One of them was bigger and
brighter, flying at high speed in parallel to the spaceship's front, which
shortly disappeared. It reemerged a few seconds later. At that moment the
two objects shot out two light beams that joined together. Then they
suddenly separated from each other, ascended rapidly and disappeared.
When the astronauts were about to land on the moon, they heard the
voice from Control Center, "Control Center calling Apollo 11, what are they
out there?" Apollo 11 answered, "These babes are humongous, Sir . . . a lot
of them . . .Oh, my God, you won't believe it. Let me tell you there are
other spaceships there . . . by the edge of the circular craters, and they
are well positioned . . . and they are watching us from the moon . . .."
Russian scientist Dr. Arched said, "According to our intercepted signals,
the encounter with floating objects as the Apollo 11 landed was immediately
reported." On November 20, 1969, astronauts Conrad and Brian of Apollo 12
observed floating objects when they landed on the moon. Astronauts landing
on the moon from Apollo 15 in August 1971, Apollo 16 in April 1972, and
Apollo 17 in December 1972 also encountered the floating objects.
Gary, a scientist, once said, "Almost all the astronauts have seen
some unidentified flying objects." Edwards, the sixth astronaut to land on
the moon, said, "The only question is where they came from." John Younger,
the ninth astronaut on the moon, said, "If you don't believe it, it is like
you don't believe in a sure thing." In 1979, former NASA Director of
Communication Molly Chertlin stated that "encountering the floating objects"
is very common. She went on, "All the spaceships have been followed by some
floating objects either at a distance or very closely. Whenever it happens,
the astronauts would contact our mission center."
Years later, Armstrong revealed, "It is incredible . . . We were all
warned that there are for sure cities or spaceships on the moon . . . I can
only say that their spaceships are much superior and they are huge . . .."
Thousands of the lunar mystical phenomena, such as the mysterious lightning,
white and black clouds, structures, floating objects and so on, are all
facts observed by astronomers and scientists. They are yet to be explained
as to what they are.

The Moon is a Hollow Spaceship

In 1970, Russian scientists Alexander Scherbakov and Mihkai Vasin
proposed a shocking Spaceship Moon hypothesis to explain the origin of the
moon. They believe that the moon is in fact not a natural satellite of the
earth, but a spaceship created by intelligent beings that modified and
reshaped a planet. There are a lot documents regarding their civilization
stored inside the moon, which was intentionally placed above the earth. All
of the discoveries of the moon are in fact the outstanding work of the
intelligent beings that live inside of it. Of course, the scientific
community is scornful of the theory, because they have not captured any ET
yet. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that the moon has been shown to be
hollow by data gathered so far.
What perplexes scientists the most is the data gathered from the
instruments left on the moon which measure the quake activities of the
moon's crust. The data indicates that the quake waves spread from the
epicenter along the surface of the moon only, but not into the center of the
moon. This shows that the moon is hollow and it is nothing but a crust. If
it was a solid planet, the quake waves should also propagate toward the
center. How could they only go along the surface?

Reconstruct New Theories About the Moon

Let's construct a new theory about the moon. It is hollow and has two
layers of crust. The outer crust consists of rocks and mineral ores.
Meteorites can only hit through this crust. The known craters are no deeper
than four miles. Thus, this outer crust is at most five miles thick. The
inner crust is a hard, artificial alloy shell of unknown thickness-probably
several miles. Its metal elements include iron, titanium, chromium, and
others that resist high temperatures, high pressure and corrosion. It is an
alloy unknown on earth.
The moonquake data indicates that moonquake waves propagate along the
moon's surface but not towards its center. This means that the moon only
has two layers of crust. Thus the moon must be artificial, rather than
naturally formed. Intelligent beings must have conducted accurate
calculations to transport the moon from their star system to the solar
system and to position it where it is in order to provide light to the earth
at night. In conclusion, none of the three traditional theories of the
origin of the moon is correct.
The beings that constructed the moon allow only one side of the moon
to face the earth because there are many observation devices on the earth.
They themselves live inside the moon closer to the back. Because the
surface temperature of the moon varies from 127( C at noon to -183( C at
night, the inhabitants live inside the moon.
The moon-making beings have invented flying saucers and they often fly
out to do research, maintain their surface devices, or to watch the
earthlings' activities. They are thus sometimes seen by astronauts from
earth or observed by telescopes on earth. We don't yet know what kind of
aliens they are or how long they have been there. Perhaps before long,
earthlings will find out the truth about the moon.
We have constructed this theory to explain the origin and structure of
the moon by using the lunar phenomena that cannot be explained by
traditional science. This theory perfectly solves each and every mystery
surrounding the moon. Who would argue that our approach is non-scientific?

[Dantheman62]

Nice! But I'll read it tomorrow, LOL, It's almost 3:30 am

[Humble Janitor]

Originally Posted by BROOK

Mining the Moon

BY William Stone // June 2009
This is part of IEEE Spectrum's Special Report: Why Mars? Why Now?
Planetary geologists speculate that the moon’s polar craters may hold billions of tons of hydrogen, perhaps even in the form of water ice. Intriguing evidence returned by the Lunar Prospector and the Clementine probes in the 1990s seemed to support this idea. The latest raft of lunar missions, including Chandrayaan-1 and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, may confirm it. In situ prospecting could then determine the quantity, quality, and accessibility of the hydrogen.
Discovering rich concentrations of hydrogen on the moon would open up a universe of possibilities—literally. Rocket fuels and consumables that now cost an average of US $10 000 per kilogram to loft could instead be produced on the moon much more cheaply. For the first time, access to space would be truly economical. At last, people would be able to begin new ventures, including space tourism, space-debris cleanup, satellite refueling, and interplanetary voyages.

Lunar prospecting will cost a lot of money—perhaps $20 billion over a decade. Rovers would have to descend into the polar craters to sample the deposits and test for ice, and then move on to other spots to form an overall map, much as wildcatters do every day in oil fields. At the moment, no country seems eager to foot the bill. But where governments fail to act on a vitally important opportunity, the private sector can and should step in.
Two years ago, I and a group of like-minded businessmen, expeditionary explorers, and space-systems managers and engineers formed the Shackleton Energy Co. in Del Valle, Texas, to conduct lunar prospecting. Should we find significant reserves of ice, we would then establish a network of refueling service stations in low Earth orbit and on the moon to process and provide fuel and consumables. Like modern highway service stations, these celestial stations would be able to refuel space vehicles of all kinds and would be positioned at key transportation nodes; an obvious spot would be near the International Space Station.
Such stations would radically change the way nearly every space system is designed. No longer would you have to carry your fuel and water into orbit with you. Entirely new classes of space vehicles would become possible, ones that operate only at and beyond low Earth orbit, such as vehicles for orbital transfer and satellite repair. Today launch systems must be designed to withstand the punishing effects of high-speed atmospheric drag, pressure, vibration, and heating that occur on the way to space. Protecting the rocket and its payload adds enormously to launch costs. But a vehicle that is designed from the start to operate only in space—say, between low Earth orbit and the moon—is not bound by the same design rules.
We would also be able to clear up the ever-growing space debris problem. There’d be plenty of fuel for maneuvering satellites and other spacecraft to avoid debris, and you could also deploy cleanup vehicles to remove obsolete materials from orbit. Within a decade or two, we would soon see the dawn of a new age of space exploration, space tourism, and space business ventures.


So where exactly is the raw material, and how will we retrieve it? The most likely place to look is within the regolith—the loose surface material—at the bottom of lunar craters, such as Shackleton Crater at the moon’s south pole. The cold interior of this crater may act as a trap that captures volatiles like water and hydrogen, which scientists believe may have been shed by comets and asteroids that collided with the moon. In the 1990s, the Lunar Prospector spacecraft sensed unexpectedly high amounts of hydrogen in the polar regions, which may indicate the presence of water ice. NASA has considered Shackleton Crater as the site for the first lunar outpost under its Constellation program, which envisions returning astronauts to the moon by 2020.
Assuming the ice exists and can be extracted, our plan calls for establishing a fuel-processing operation on the lunar surface. The first step would be to melt the ice and purify the water. Next, we’d electrolyze the water into gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, and then condense the gases into liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and also process them into hydrogen peroxide, all of which could be used as rocket fuels. Should other volatiles like ammonia or methane be discovered, they, too, would be processed into fuel, fertilizer, and other useful products.
Getting the fuels and other consumables from the moon into low Earth orbit will be relatively cheap. Because of the peculiarities of celestial mechanics, such a haul requires just 1/14th to 1/20th of the fuel it takes to bring material up from Earth.
Prospecting within the crater won’t be easy, of course. It’s extremely cold (a steady −173 °C) and perpetually dark—like an Antarctic winter but worse, because it’s constant. Also, the moon’s low gravitational field makes excavating that much trickier than it is back on Earth. Our plan therefore calls for developing a new generation of highly reliable, human-tended robotic machinery that would be built to withstand even that harsh environment. We think it can be done. We won’t know unless we try.


hree elements are essential for the commercial success of our operation. First, to save about $1 billion during the initial staging of the lunar mining base, the first human team will take only enough fuel to land and establish the base—not enough for a return trip to Earth. This may sound radical, but the human crew who will undertake this mission will do so knowing that their success and survival depend on in situ fuel generation for the return. Should they fail, theirs will be a one-way trip; the risk is theirs to take. For government-sponsored space agencies, such a concept is unthinkable; they cannot tolerate the political risk of failure. Yet it is the only viable business choice. Centuries of explorers made the same hard choice in pushing the limits on land, sea, and air. It’s time to carry it forward into space. This is not reckless bravado but calculated risk management to satisfy mission needs and affordability.
Second, we need a relatively inexpensive means of returning to low Earth orbit. To do that involves the dissipation of nearly 3 kilometers per second of excess velocity. Decelerating with rocket propellant alone would be prohibitively expensive—we’d be ”eating the seed corn.” So we plan to do it with actively controlled aerobraking. The water-laden spacecraft will repeatedly dip into and skip out of the upper atmosphere, losing some velocity with each dip, until it ultimately ends up in the orbit of the fueling station. This same maneuver was previously used only for much smaller planetary robotic missions, such as Magellan and the Mars Global Surveyor, but the physics and engineering are well understood. We intend to take the concept to an industrial scale, which would have obvious applications for other space missions.
Third, we plan to rely on inflatable structures. Constructed of multilayer fabrics shielded with Kevlar or other strong materials and banded by steel exoskeletons, these structures could provide most of our habitation, storage, and transportation requirements. They would be both lighter and less expensive than traditional spacecraft. A number of companies have done extensive R&D on such inflatable space structures, including Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace, which has even lofted two test modules to low Earth orbit.


Reliance on such technologies will decrease the cost of our operation, but it still will not be cheap. We estimate that establishing a lunar mining outpost and low-Earth-orbit fueling network will cost about $20 billion and take about a decade to put in place. That may sound like a lot, but in terms of complexity it’s comparable to a North Sea oil production complex. And it’s just a third of what the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco said it will spend on oil and gas projects over the next five years.
We live in interesting times. Right now, the technology, opportunity, and need to undertake such a mission are converging. Global tensions over resources, energy, and the environmental balance will only intensify in the coming years. New technologies may solve some of these problems, but ultimately we must look further afield for answers.
The Shackleton project offers a solution. We seek the boldest and most imaginative managers, policy makers, investors, engineers, and explorers to partner with us and to ignite the Earth-moon economy. It is time for the private sector to take the lead in creating new markets and expanding humanity’s presence in space. Governments cannot and will not do it by themselves anytime soon. Our company is prepared to open up space to those who have the vision, stamina, and wherewithal to make it a reality. Join us!
For more articles, go to Special Report: Why Mars? Why Now?
About the Author

William Stone is an aerospace engineer and explorer. He serves as the chairman of Shackleton Energy Co., based in Del Valle, Texas.


http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/aerospa...ining-the-moon

Oh come on! A decade?

That's TPTB's way of saying "Fuhgettaboutit! Not happening!"

[Illumination]

.

Originally Posted by Anchor

Crashing a rocket onto the moon for an experiment.

Thats annoying.

I hope it goes the way of the LHC experiment.

A..

[BROOK]

Moon Flowers

[lemon_sky88]

Further developments on the bombing of the moon

http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seatt...-civilizations

Why are we bombing the moon. Not for water i know that much. We have instaments to take care of this. What in gods name are we trying to do on the moon. what human activity on the moon are we preparing for? sounds very fishy and i dont like us messing with celestial objects for the hell of it.

[Dantheman62]

Originally Posted by lemon_sky88

Further developments on the bombing of the moon

http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seatt...-civilizations

Why are we bombing the moon. Not for water i know that much. We have instaments to take care of this. What in gods name are we trying to do on the moon. what human activity on the moon are we preparing for? sounds very fishy and i dont like us messing with celestial objects for the hell of it.

It does sound fishy, but the moon will be just fine. Most craters on the moon exceed 25 miles across and the largest one being over 1500 miles across. Imagine how big and fast that meteor was traveling to create that crater! A meteor can easily travel at 30,000 miles per hour and it had to be huge to create that size of crater, so our little 5000 pound probe traveling at 5,600 miles per hour will seem like a mosquito bite to the moon!

But with all the other countries having already mapped it out and crashed probes into it for soil composition experiments, why do we all of a sudden feel the need to do it? Very fishy!

[Orion11]

Originally Posted by BROOK

They must think we're Lunatics

ahhh, my middle name is Lunaticus!

[BROOK]

Originally Posted by Orion11

ahhh, my middle name is Lunaticus!

NO way! that is too funny

[Orion11]

hahahaha,

you silly girl,
no not really....
i was jus joshin ya. lol

i am a lunatic though. lol

i love those Moon flowers!!

i cant remember the kind im thinkin of, maybe its those...

but they only smell at night when the moon is lit.. or somethin. lol
a type of jasmine maybe? dang.. i forget... beautiful tho.

those ones you posted look like morning glorys almost.

[BROOK]

Originally Posted by Orion11

hahahaha,

you silly girl,
no not really....
i was jus joshin ya. lol

i am a lunatic though. lol

i love those Moon flowers!!

i cant remember the kind im thinkin of, maybe its those...

but they only smell at night when the moon is lit.. or somethin. lol
a type of jasmine maybe? dang.. i forget... beautiful tho.

those ones you posted look like morning glorys almost.

Okay...just for that you get mooned



those flowers do look like morning glory's ...but the site said
Moon Flowers....maybe that another name for them

[Orion11]

hahahaha!!, woohoo!! lol

ohh yeah, i looked up the moon flowers,
they open at night instead of in the day time so that certain moths can pollinate them! cool!

and just fer that.....
im gunna Moon you back!

lol

[Orion11]

i dont wanna get 'yelled at' for posting this,
even though its just a drawing/painting... some silly goose might find it offensive, who knows. lol
.. so ill link it instead of posting the image (its fine, really) http://www.goyettefamily.com/media/moon_landing.jpg

[Orion11]

and ive never heard of "moon butt", but apparently it's a real character on nickelodeon,
:mfr lol:

[BROOK]

Originally Posted by Orion11

i dont wanna get 'yelled at' for posting this,
even though its just a drawing/painting... some silly goose might find it offensive, who knows. lol
.. so ill link it instead of posting the image (its fine, really) http://www.goyettefamily.com/media/moon_landing.jpg

That's GREAT

[Orion11]

lol

Last Kaguya HDTV Images Before Impact



The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has released the final still images taken by the onboard High Definition Television (HDTV) from Kaguya, just before it completed its mission by impacting the moon on June 11, 2009. An entire series of images were taken with an interval of about one minute by the HDTV (Teltephoto) while Kaguya maneuvered its way to impact in Gill Crater.

Here's a link to a Flash animation showing the images in succession. Click the "up" arrow to proceed through the images.

The last image taken is basically just black as it approached the darkened bottom of the crater. This is the second to the last image taken:



Visible is the surface of the Moon getting closer as Kaguya approached impact.

Kaguya launched on September 14, 2007 and spent nearly two years studying the moon before the planned impact. An Australian telescope observed the controlled crash of Japan's Kaguya lunar probe into the moon Wednesday, an important warm-up act before a NASA's LCROSS impactor attempts a similar feat in October. Here's the series of images from Australia:

The image above shows a sequence of four frames around the impact time, with a bright impact flash visible in the second frame, and faintly seen in the third and fourth. Credit: Anglo-Australian Telescope by Jeremy Bailey (University of New South Wales) and Steve Lee (Anglo-Australian Observatory)

Browse through more images taken by the Kaguya HDTV Archives, the JAXA digital archives , and the JAXA channel on YouTube.