scholarly journals The Quaking, Shrinking Moon

Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Crowell

New evidence suggests that the Moon may still be tectonically active.

Author(s):  
Xiaojia Zeng ◽  
Xiongyao Li ◽  
Xiaoping Xia ◽  
Jianzhong Liu ◽  
Zexian Cui ◽  
...  

1960 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Millon

AbstractThe problem of the age of the pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacán is considered in the light of evidence from an extensive and hitherto unreported Tzacualli or Teotihuacán I occupation to the northwest of the Pyramid of the Moon. Material from a small excavation in this new zone is commented upon briefly. Previous analyses of the age of the pyramids are discussed in the context of the new evidence, the conclusion being that the Pyramid of the Sun and probably also the Pyramid of the Moon were built in the earliest phase of the occupation of Teotihuacán rather than later as commonly assumed. The relationships of the Tzacualli phase to other sites in the Valley of Mexico are discussed and it is concluded that the pyramids were probably built in about the last century before Christ or earlier. Since the building of these enormous pyramids implies a relatively complex level of social integration, this new level must have come into being some several hundred years or more before the building of the pyramids unless a large-scale migration was involved. For this it is contended there is no good evidence. Linné's new chronological placement of Tlamimilolpa before Xolalpan rather than after is discussed. Comments are made on the significance of this reversal of chronology for the growth of the city and for the expansion of its “influence” to other parts of Mesoamerica.


2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Pollard ◽  
Clive Ruggles

The changing cosmological symbolism incorporated in Phases 1 and 2 at Stonehenge is reviewed in the light of new evidence from patterns of deposition prior to the construction of the bluestone and sarsen stone settings. The early structure of the monument and attendant depositional practices embodied a scheme of radial division, including a symbolic quartering primarily demarcated by solstitial rising and setting points. Through sustained ritual practice, however, the motions of the moon came increasingly to be referenced through deposition, particularly of cremations. This evidence seems to contradict earlier claims of a sudden shift in and around Wessex during the mid-third millennium BC from a predominantly lunar to a predominantly solar cosmology. It suggests instead that interest in solar and lunar events did not necessarily preclude each other and that over the centuries there was a process of subtle change involving the continual reworking of symbolic schemes emphasizing a sense of ‘timelessness’ and the unchanging order of the universe.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 18-34
Author(s):  
Dominique Charpin

Abstract Thirty-two years after the publication of Le Clergé d’Ur au siècle d’Hammurabi (1986), a reappraisal of the situation is made possible by collations of already known texts, and by new tablets provided by the resumption of excavations on the site of Tell Muqayyer. The question of the estate properties within the city of Ur will first be examined: generally, the members of the clergy owned the houses they inhabited, which were not the property of the temple of the Moon-god Nanna. Then the evidence about the specific situation of the purification priests devoted to the god Enki-of-Eridu will be studied: the older data are supplemented by new ones discovered in 2017 in a house occupied by a Babylonian general. Finally, the level of literacy of the clergy and the role they played in education will be examined; here again, the 2017 season provides new evidence thanks to the discovery of a house inhabited by an intendant of the temple of the goddess Ningal.


Icarus ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 242 ◽  
pp. 249-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Sruthi ◽  
P. Senthil Kumar
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  

1966 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
Y. Kozai

The motion of an artificial satellite around the Moon is much more complicated than that around the Earth, since the shape of the Moon is a triaxial ellipsoid and the effect of the Earth on the motion is very important even for a very close satellite.The differential equations of motion of the satellite are written in canonical form of three degrees of freedom with time depending Hamiltonian. By eliminating short-periodic terms depending on the mean longitude of the satellite and by assuming that the Earth is moving on the lunar equator, however, the equations are reduced to those of two degrees of freedom with an energy integral.Since the mean motion of the Earth around the Moon is more rapid than the secular motion of the argument of pericentre of the satellite by a factor of one order, the terms depending on the longitude of the Earth can be eliminated, and the degree of freedom is reduced to one.Then the motion can be discussed by drawing equi-energy curves in two-dimensional space. According to these figures satellites with high inclination have large possibilities of falling down to the lunar surface even if the initial eccentricities are very small.The principal properties of the motion are not changed even if plausible values ofJ3andJ4of the Moon are included.This paper has been published in Publ. astr. Soc.Japan15, 301, 1963.


1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 441-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Geake ◽  
H. Lipson ◽  
M. D. Lumb

Work has recently begun in the Physics Department of the Manchester College of Science and Technology on an attempt to simulate lunar luminescence in the laboratory. This programme is running parallel with that of our colleagues in the Manchester University Astronomy Department, who are making observations of the luminescent spectrum of the Moon itself. Our instruments are as yet only partly completed, but we will describe briefly what they are to consist of, in the hope that we may benefit from the comments of others in the same field, and arrange to co-ordinate our work with theirs.


1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 415-418
Author(s):  
K. P. Stanyukovich ◽  
V. A. Bronshten

The phenomena accompanying the impact of large meteorites on the surface of the Moon or of the Earth can be examined on the basis of the theory of explosive phenomena if we assume that, instead of an exploding meteorite moving inside the rock, we have an explosive charge (equivalent in energy), situated at a certain distance under the surface.


1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 149-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Ruskol

The difference between average densities of the Moon and Earth was interpreted in the preceding report by Professor H. Urey as indicating a difference in their chemical composition. Therefore, Urey assumes the Moon's formation to have taken place far away from the Earth, under conditions differing substantially from the conditions of Earth's formation. In such a case, the Earth should have captured the Moon. As is admitted by Professor Urey himself, such a capture is a very improbable event. In addition, an assumption that the “lunar” dimensions were representative of protoplanetary bodies in the entire solar system encounters great difficulties.


1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold C. Urey

During the last 10 years, the writer has presented evidence indicating that the Moon was captured by the Earth and that the large collisions with its surface occurred within a surprisingly short period of time. These observations have been a continuous preoccupation during the past years and some explanation that seemed physically possible and reasonably probable has been sought.


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