Moon flatulence

November 9, 2006 7:24 AM

Moon flatulence...amateur astronomers have seen puffs or flashes of light coming from the moon's surface. Although most professional observers have upheld the conclusion that the moon was inactive, such sightings have kept open a window of doubt. A gas release itself would not be visible for more than a second or so, but the dust it kicked up might stay suspended for up to 30 seconds. Nature article (subscription).
posted by 445supermag (9 comments total)

The chances of anything coming from The Moon, are a million to one, he said. Eeeeeeeeeeooooooooo
posted by sourwookie at 8:03 AM on November 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

Moonfarterfilter.
posted by jonmc at 8:08 AM on November 9, 2006

God I hope it's not gas. How are we going to get the troops there??
posted by Benny Andajetz at 8:17 AM on November 9, 2006

God I hope it's not gas. How are we going to get the troops there??

Simple, we'll tell people that the moon is run by an "evil" dictator who needed to be taken care of back in '69, but the liberals wouldn't let us.

Too much?
posted by Cyclopsis Raptor at 8:56 AM on November 9, 2006

The Moon is made of cheese which got cut.
posted by jefbla at 9:03 AM on November 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

Dammit, sourwookie beat me to it...
posted by WinnipegDragon at 9:08 AM on November 9, 2006

Trust me, one can be both inactive and flatulent.
posted by amro at 9:41 AM on November 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

The moon is made of carbon and has a thin covering of plastecinenin which periodically re-settles on the surface, ginving the illusion that the moon is in shadow. The plastecinenin is kind of bluey white. I saw it on The Sky at Night.

Hence, any appearence of gas is simply part of this process.
posted by asok at 3:46 PM on November 9, 2006

Not at all invalidating the article, but might the "puffs" or flashes also be small meteor impacts?

We get pounded by a rain of stuff every day, but virtually all of it burns in the atmosphere... minimal atmosphere on the Moon = more stuff reaching the surface.

I am reminded of the impacts of the pieces of the disintegrating Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter... of course, those were cataclysmic in effect, but throw something in/on to a surface at high speed, and you get ejecta, clouds, etc. "puffs".
posted by exlotuseater at 5:37 PM on November 9, 2006