Flashes on the moon

phys.org ^ | May 31, 2019 | Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

[BenLurkin]

Science does not know exactly how these phenomena occur on the moon. But it has attempted to explain them: the impact of a meteor, for example, should cause a brief glow. Such flashes could also occur when electrically charged particles of the solar wind react with moon dust.

"Seismic activities...would explain the luminous phenomena, some of which last for hours," says Hakan Kayal, Professor of Space Technology...in Bavaria, Germany.

Kayal's team built a lunar telescope and put it into operation in April 2019. It is located in a private observatory in Spain, about 100 kilometres north of Seville in a rural area.

The telescope is remote-controlled from the JMU campus. It consists of two cameras that keep an eye on the moon night after night. Only if both cameras register a luminous phenomenon at the same time, the telescope triggers further actions. It then stores photos and video sequences of the event and sends an e-mail message to Kayal's team.

year of work will be required before this can be done.

Interest in the lunar luminous phenomena is currently high. This is also due to a new "race to the moon" that is underway: China has started a comprehensive lunar program and at the beginning of January 2019 launched a probe on the far side of the moon. India is planning a similar mission.

Behind all these activities are prestige reasons and a striving for technological "supremacy" in space. China and other players such as Space X, however, are also considering the moon as a habitat for humans in the long term. In addition, there are raw materials on the moon—for example, rare metals for smartphones and other devices.

By then, at the latest, it should be clear what the mysterious flashes and luminous phenomena are all about.

[SunkenCiv]

Hence, the geologist was sent. :^) Schmidt found that every surface was pocked by micrometeor impacts, that impact was and is the dominant force at work in the formation of lunar surface features. The rest of the "lunar impact" keyword:

• Mysterious flashes of light observed on the moon's surface [2019]
• AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS SPOT METEORITE IMPACT DURING LUNAR ECLIPSE [2019]
• Meteoroid Collides with Moon During Total Lunar Eclipse [2019]
• The Moon WASN'T formed with one giant impact but had a bombardment birth after 20 moonlets hit... [2018]
• Vast asteroid created 'Man in Moon's eye' crater [2016]
• Ancient lunar polar ice reveals tilting of Moon's axis [2016]
• Crater Hunters Find New Clues to Ancient Impact Storm [2014]
• Bright Explosion on the Moon [2013]
• Mysterious radiation burst recorded in tree rings [2012]
• One of the newest craters on the Moon [2010]
• LUNAR IMPACT PLUME [LCROSS team: Moon collision a "smashing success" after all] [2009]
• Yost Says You're Not Frightened Enough [2009]
• The Earth-Moon system during the Late Heavy Bombardment period [2009]
• Ancient impact may have bowled the Moon over [2007]
• Asteroid Breakup May Have Doomed Dinosaurs [2007]
• 'Lunar Ark' Proposed In Case Of Deadly Impact On Earth [2007]
• Landscapes from the ancient and eroded lunar far side [2006]
• Comet or Meteorite Impact Events in 1178AD? [2005]
• Giordano Bruno, the June 1975 Meteoroid Storm, Encke, and Other Taurid Complex Objects [2004]
• A Celestial Collision [2004]
• Astronomers unravel a mystery of the Dark Ages [2004]
• NASA Solves Moon Mystery (+Geology Picture of the Week, February 16-22, 2003) [2003]
• Moon's Youngest Crater Discovered [2002]
• The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined? [2002]
• Cataclysm 3.9 Billion Years Ago Was Caused By Asteroids, Not Comets [2002]

[75thOVI]

If there was an astronaut named “Jack Smith” on Apollo 17, this may have some significance. Perhaps this is Harrison Schmitt’s distant cousin.