Aug 10, 2017 05:35 AM
The Moon's Origin Story Is in Crisis
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ry/535761/
EXCERPT: That rock, and its boulder brethren, would go on to tell a story of how the entire moon came to be. In this creation tale, inscribed in countless textbooks and science-museum exhibits over the past four decades, the moon was forged in a calamitous collision between an embryonic Earth and a rocky world the size of Mars. This other world was named Theia, for the Greek goddess who gave birth to Selene, the moon. Theia clobbered Earth so hard and so fast that the worlds both melted. Eventually, leftover debris from Theia cooled and solidified into the silvery companion we have today. But modern measurements of troctolite 76536, and other rocks from the moon and Mars, have cast doubt on this story. In the past five years, a bombardment of studies has exposed a problem: The canonical giant-impact hypothesis rests on assumptions that do not match the evidence....
As eclipse madness spreads, so do conspiracy theories
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/...-theories/
EXCERPT: [...] The predominant conspiracy theory for the 2017 solar eclipse seems to be that the secret planet "Nibiru" will smash into Earth on, or around, the day of the eclipse. During the last two days, several British newspapers—The Express, The Daily Mail, and the Telegraph—have all run with some variant of the story. (We have purposefully not included links). Alas, NASA has already previously declared Nibiru an "Internet hoax" back during the 2012 Mayan calendar folderol. But hoaxes are like cockroaches, one can never fully stomp them out....
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https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ry/535761/
EXCERPT: That rock, and its boulder brethren, would go on to tell a story of how the entire moon came to be. In this creation tale, inscribed in countless textbooks and science-museum exhibits over the past four decades, the moon was forged in a calamitous collision between an embryonic Earth and a rocky world the size of Mars. This other world was named Theia, for the Greek goddess who gave birth to Selene, the moon. Theia clobbered Earth so hard and so fast that the worlds both melted. Eventually, leftover debris from Theia cooled and solidified into the silvery companion we have today. But modern measurements of troctolite 76536, and other rocks from the moon and Mars, have cast doubt on this story. In the past five years, a bombardment of studies has exposed a problem: The canonical giant-impact hypothesis rests on assumptions that do not match the evidence....
As eclipse madness spreads, so do conspiracy theories
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/...-theories/
EXCERPT: [...] The predominant conspiracy theory for the 2017 solar eclipse seems to be that the secret planet "Nibiru" will smash into Earth on, or around, the day of the eclipse. During the last two days, several British newspapers—The Express, The Daily Mail, and the Telegraph—have all run with some variant of the story. (We have purposefully not included links). Alas, NASA has already previously declared Nibiru an "Internet hoax" back during the 2012 Mayan calendar folderol. But hoaxes are like cockroaches, one can never fully stomp them out....
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