[meteorite-list] contemporary lunar impacts

[Mark Bowling]

Oops, sent in richtext...
 
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Mark Bowling <minador at yahoo.com>
To: Bernd V. Pauli <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>; "meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 9:58 PM
Subject: contemporary lunar impacts


Bernd,
That is a very interesting reference.  William Herschel is one of my favorite historical figures & I remember reading about his observations of lunar volcanoes in a book titled "little known science oddities" book (or something like that - I still have that book somewhere in my collection).
 
It always fascinated me and when I studied geology at university, I always remembered his claim whenever we studied volcanoes or impacts.  I didn't take my geology studies quite as far as I should have and I never took the time to research whether large impacts could produce enough melted rock to leave a glowing scar or not.  I don't know if I ever posed that question to any of my professors, but I always got the impression that, since the moon is "volcanically dead", it wasn't very likely.  But I'd like to think it can, and that such a great observer was blessed to see such a unique event.
 
I would like to hear more from others who know about this topic.
 
I recently had a brief look at a site which discussed how amateurs (?) have been detecting meteor impacts on the moon.  It could have been the Cloudbait Observatory, Thomas Ashcraft's site or a site in Canada??  Pretty fascinating stuff!  I look forward to getting my telescope back up and running soon:)
 
Thanks for bringing this up!
 
Clear skies,
Mark B.
Vail, AZ


________________________________
From: Bernd V. Pauli <bernd.pauli at paulinet.de>
To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2011 2:03 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] The Dark Side.. Oops!

Phil wrote:

"Do people still say 'dark side of the moon'
when referring to the far side of the moon?



Lunar Volcanoes - William Herschel observed
lunar lights (Astronomy Now, April 1999, p. 58):

"April 19, 1787. I perceive three volcanoes in different places of
the  d a r k  s i d e  of the new moon."

Best wishes,

Bernd