Sunday, February 12, 2012

Mystery Moon Flashes Caused by Meteorite Impacts

Mystery Moon Flashes Caused by Meteorite Impacts:

Example of a lunar flash, photographed in 1953. Credit: Leon Stuart/Columbia University Department of Astronomy

For hundreds of years, people have seen tiny flashes of light on the surface of the Moon. Very brief, but bright enough to be seen from Earth, these odd flashes still hadn’t been adequately explained up until now. Also known as Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLPs), they’ve been observed on many occasions, but rarely photographed. On Earth, meteorites burning up in the atmosphere can produce similar flashes, but the Moon has no atmosphere for anything to burn up in, so what could be causing them? As it turns out, according to a new study, the answer is still meteorites, but for a slightly different reason.

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