Is the moon real?

[In Vacuo Veritas]

It supposedly weighs 70000000000000000000000 kilos but it just hangs there and doesn't fall down?

LOL

PS: Yes, I know it doesn't weigh anything since it's in free fall. Thank you.

[Zero999]

Lol, very funny. 

[coppercone2]

no dinosaurs were playing baseball and something got stuck in orbit

[Simon]

PS: Yes, I know it doesn't weigh anything since it's in free fall. Thank you.

Crap you mean it's going to hit us?

[Domagoj T]

PS: Yes, I know it doesn't weigh anything since it's in free fall. Thank you.

Crap you mean it's going to hit us?

Nah, don't worry about it. Its aim isn't all that stellar. In fact, and somewhat paradoxically, even though it is constantly falling towards the Earth, it is still managing to keep falling away from the Earth. Moon is weird in that way. Definitely a hologram.

[Simon]

Yea that's why we can't see the other side.

[Domagoj T]

Of course. When they built it, the graphics card weren't beefy enough to render the 3D rotating object in real time, so they settled for a static 8-bit gray scale sprite.
Now it's too late to change it.

[Brumby]

I've seen a few bits of tech like that....

[GregDunn]

Stand on the sea shore at low tide and keep saying out loud "Is the Moon real?"  We'll get back to you.   

[Domagoj T]

Well, the shores are not real either. Don't you see they can't even decided where the water begins. Obviously their PID controller that monitors the water level is out of whack, oscillating an all.

[MarkF]

NO... We all live in a locker at the bus depot

 

[TerraHertz]

Of course the moon is real, that's where the Nazi bases are.


So looking forward to this. Guaranteed to be some fine laughs.

[Whales]

Well, the shores are not real either. Don't you see they can't even decided where the water begins. Obviously their PID controller that monitors the water level is out of whack, oscillating an all.

This seems to be related with the simulation timestep.  Smaller ocean connected areas (eg estuaries, lagoons) are more stable.

[moon]

Of course. When they built it, the graphics card weren't beefy enough to render the 3D rotating object in real time, so they settled for a static 8-bit gray scale sprite.
Now it's too late to change it.

The moon's deprecated, expected to be removed in a future version.

[Howardlong]

No the moon can’t be real, studies show the tide is turning.

[JackJones]

Well, they did send an expedition there once. Turns out it's made out of Wensleydale.

[tggzzz]

Yea that's why we can't see the other side.

There was a "Dark side of the Moon", until October 1959 when Luna 3 took the first photos of the farside.

[tggzzz]

Well, they did send an expedition there once. Turns out it's made out of Wensleydale.

Don't be silly. Wensleydale is a mature cheese, not a green cheese.

And rather nice it is too, provided is hasn't been cut, wrapped in plastic, refridgerated and sold in a supermarket.

[coppercone2]

i bought some rubin cheese recently by accident. right into the trash can it smelled like I opened a bag filled with shit

[SiliconWizard]

It supposedly weighs 70000000000000000000000 kilos but it just hangs there and doesn't fall down?

LOL

PS: Yes, I know it doesn't weigh anything since it's in free fall. Thank you.

Well, do the laws of gravity always hold?
 

[cdev]

When the astronauts discovered the Moon was NOT cheese they packed up their bags and went home.

A little cow told me that.


 

But, seriously, folks, there are some good arguments for setting up an observatory on the far side of the Moon, that I am sure everybody here can understand.

Hint: Less RFI and less light pollution.

The downside is all the data collected would have to be relayed around the moon to be transmitted back to Earth either from a satellite or from a stationary high gain antenna on the other side.

[Domagoj T]

Other disadvantages:
Moon has seismic activity
Moon dust is devastating for mechanics (although there shouldn't be much of the dust being picked up other then during landing)
During the 14 day long night the temperature drops quite a bit, and during the 14 day long day it gets quite toasty. Thermal management could be an issue.

[edpalmer42]

Is the moon real?

Well, yes and no......

[rrinker]

 Of course it's real - real bleu cheese. It's small chunks that make it to Earth that we get the bleu cheese we eat and make dips from.
 

[Electro Detective]

When the astronauts discovered the Moon was NOT cheese they packed up their bags and went home.

A little cow told me that.

A mouse told me they did the runner because there was no gold, diamonds, oil, coal, uranium, kryptonite

 or 'love you long time' alien hookers   

[doobedoobedo]

Obviously we only see one side of the moon because it's flat.

[tggzzz]

Obviously we only see one side of the moon because it's flat.

Except that we can see 59% of the lunar surface from earth, due to libration

[doobedoobedo]

Obviously we only see one side of the moon because it's flat.

Except that we can see 59% of the lunar surface from earth, due to libration

Mere details.

[xrunner]

It supposedly weighs 70000000000000000000000 kilos but it just hangs there and doesn't fall down?

LOL

Are YOU real?

If so - prove it.

[tggzzz]

Obviously we only see one side of the moon because it's flat.

Except that we can see 59% of the lunar surface from earth, due to libration

Mere details.

Indeed. Never let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

[fsr]

LOL! Very funny!!

Everyone knows that the moon is an artifact from an ancient alien race, because the earth is flat, so it's impossible for gravity to hold it there. It's all a great conspiracy!! It's such a big conspiracy that nobody even knows who would benefit from such a global scam!!

[Electro Detective]

There's a Science-tology? place I drive past that welcomes all with free tea and coffee 

You reckon those dudes will have some answers? 

If toast and biscuits are part of the deal, I may take them up on it and pick their brains 

[cdev]

Electro-Detective, have you heard the story of Xenu?

Its the Scientologists' cosmology or origin myth. I would like to hear what they say if you show up at their headquarters and ask them about that.

Way back in the day my friends and I used to play along and pretend to be gullible when approached by various cults, just to see where they would take it. There used to be a surplus as far as wacky cults and various new age religions in California, especially in the Bay Area. All sorts of them. Every kind of group you could possibly imagine, so this was a lot of fun.

But let me give you a tip, hold on to your shoes! Don't let them take away your shoes.

[Richard Crowley]

The moon is moving away from the earth at ~ 3.8 cm/year.
And that is theorized to be causing the rotation of our planet to gradually slow down.
27 leap seconds have been added since 1972 to keep current with sidereal time.
That last leap second was a couple of years ago, so we are pretty close for now.
Did we have a transient glitch in GPS at 23:59:60 on 2016-Dec-31?

[Richard Crowley]

[rrinker]

 That's no moon....

Actually, the moon IS an alien spacecraft in disguise. Anyone else read this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutineers%27_Moon

[Circlotron]

Is the moon real?

Well, yes and no......

Oh, Schrodinger’s moon.
Right...

[coppice]

Is the moon real?

Well, yes and no......

Oh, Schrodinger’s moon.
Right...

Ah, that explains why half the time I look up at night and the moon is there, and half the time it isn't.

[Electro Detective]

Dunno guys, I can think of better things to do with a mooncraft 

rather than waste juice hovering over earth keeping tabs on the little people below, scamming and or making fools of themselves year in year out 

Perhaps whoever is up there is dead (methane poisoning?) and the rig is on auto pilot ? 

[coppercone2]

all those apollo astronauts came back a bit weird because the lunar partying with the illuminati was too hard

[Kilrah]

Nope, just CGI. But just like the rest of what we see 

[German_EE]

Yes, because I have personally pointed an antenna at the moon, sent out a signal, and received a signal back about 2.4 seconds later. Granted, it wasn't my equipment, but ham radio moonbounce work was kinda cool.

http://ve2zaz.net/Presentations/Downloads/VE2ZAZ_EME_Presentation.pdf

[A Hellene]

Of course the Moon (or Selene: the ancient name for the Earth's moon, meaning 'the bright one') is real because, as stated previously, EME Communications can verify that distance any time.

Another little known fact is that two of the most ancient Hellenic bloodliness, the Arcadians and the Selloi have always been calling themselves «Προσέληνοι» ('proselenoi'), meaning that they existed, they were there, before Selene! This is something that has been stated by Herodotus and lots of others (Apollonius of Rhodes, Ovid, Hesychius of Alexandria, in Soudas encyclopedic lexicon, etc.); even Democritus and Anaxagoras were teaching that there was an era when the Earth had no moon.

-George

[Domagoj T]

Of course there was Earth before Moon, but to claim that there was civilisation before it will require quite a bit of support.
AFAIK, the leading hypothesis on formation of the Mood states that a planet sized rock collided with Earth and partially merged, while the Moon formed from the debris. Such collision is not survivable for anything but perhaps the most primitive single cell organisms.
All our estimates of the age of the Moon far preceed the humanity.

[cdev]

Interesting! I have a copy of (Herodotus's) 2400 year old 'the Histories' and its great light reading.

Of course the Moon (or Selene: the ancient name for the Earth's moon, meaning 'the bright one') is real because, as stated previously, EME Communications can verify that distance any time.

Another little known fact is that two of the most ancient Hellenic bloodliness, the Arcadians and the Selloi have always been calling themselves «Προσέληνοι» ('proselenoi'), meaning that they existed, they were there, before Selene! This is something that has been stated by Herodotus and lots of others (Apollonius of Rhodes, Ovid, Hesychius of Alexandria, in Soudas encyclopedic lexicon, etc.); even Democritus and Anaxagoras were teaching that there was an era when the Earth had no moon.

-George

[Red Squirrel]

Sometimes the moon glitches out, and stays stuck and is seen in the day.  I think it's just a bug in the code that generates the hologram. I believe it uses DLP technology and sometimes the mirrors get stuck.

There is a scheduled reboot on the 20th to correct an issue so you might see it disappear for a bit.   They are replacing some of the bulbs in the lighting module.

[Richard Crowley]

When it appears to "go dark" every month from our POV, maybe it turns so that we could see the back side if it weren't for the shadows.  Is that when the Russians send back all the telemetry?

[Kilrah]

Gotta shine a big fat laser at it to check... If it's got a DMD we might get a unicorn picture in return.