[meteorite-list] PHOTO OF A LUNAR IMPACT EVENT (was Crackpotin the news...)

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Apr 24 18:54:32 2005
Message-ID: <426C2384.EB43D78D_at_bhil.com>

Hi, Charlie,

    Yes, I definitely got a "fringey" feel from the website, besides having
a bad case of a little too much moderator/site-owner ego about how wonderful
he was. While LunaScan mentions cooperating with ALPO, ALPO doesn't mention
them. I was suspicious, but there was nothing overt.
    However, I am always willing to walk right up the the edge of the very
outer fringe of the lunatic fringe and look across the line to see what they
got! For example, I would put the article "Archaeological Reconnaissance of
the Moon" by Arkhipov on this (i.e., sane) side of the line, although he's
got his toes right on the edge of the cliff!
    It's a perfectly sound notion, the methodology is good, but there is no
evidence produced that walks right up and stares at you, eyeball to
eyeball. Neither does Arkhipov claim there is any such positive outcome. He
doesn't jump off that cliff. He pleads for funding to do a proper job.
Hey! If I were a Russian astronomer, I'd be pleading for funding too. Even
American astronomers have been known to plead for funding...
    Now, if you want real exo-terrestrial archaeological whackiness, try the
website of Richard Hoagland, who is The King of Loons! He jumped off the
cliff and -- guess what? -- there's no bottom down there! The odd/sad thing
is that he was once a very bright and accomplished person who gradually
developed a classifiable mental disorder that produces this craziness.
    Arthur C. Clarke is credited, for example, with being the one who put
together what we knew about Europa and realizing that it had a potential
biosphere under the ice, a world ocean with warmth, food, water and
everything you need for a spanking good ecology. The notion plays heavily
in the plot of 2001/2010/2061.3001. "All these worlds are yours but one, so
keep your mitts off Europa," or however it goes.
    But Clarke himself tells the story of how Hoagland came up with the
notion entirely on his own and handed it tied up with a ribbon to Arthur.
Hoagland was, at that time, virtually the number one science reporter in the
US, and apparently not only sane but a pretty sharp fellow. So, if we ever
discover any life in Europa's oceans, the credit will have to go to him and
the fact that he's a complete whacko will be mercifully forgotten.
    Life at the fringe is always chancy.


Sterling K. Webb
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Devine wrote:

> Sterling wrote:
>
> >Lunascan is a network of people who run
> >automated telescopes to search for
> >TLP's (Transient Lunar Phenomenon).
>
> Some years ago, I got to know, through their mailing list, some of the
> members of Lunascan.
> In general. I am not one to judge, but I believe many on this mailing
> list would position the people of Lunascan within the "lunatic fringe".
> For example: http://www.astrosurf.com/lunascan/elo-st.htm
> Check out the article "Archaeological Reconnaissance of the Moon" to get
> an idea.
>
> Regards,
> Charlie
Received on Sun 24 Apr 2005 06:53:56 PM PDT