Catching Photons Coming from the Moon 146
Roland Piquepaille writes "In 'Shooting the moon,' the San Diego Union-Tribune describes how and why physicists from UCSD are using lasers to send light pulses in direction of an array of reflectors installed on our moon in 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. One of the goals of these experiments is to check the validity of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Another one is to measure the distance between the Earth and moon with a precision of one millimeter by catching photons after their round trip to the moon. But it is amazing to realize how difficult it is to capture photons after such a trip. I also have up a summary, which contains additional details and pictures, if you just want to learn how difficult it is to capture photons back from the moon."
If you look close... (Score:4, Funny)
title? (Score:3, Funny)
The "Moon": A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:3, Funny)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
Re:Nothing to see... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:question (Score:5, Funny)
They didn't. The Burbank soundstage looked fake, so they had to build one on the Moon.
The Burbank Landing is a hoax. We never went to Burbank. Going to Burbank requires resources and capabilities far exceeding those we possess or will be able to possess in the foreseeable future.
Re:Mirrors? On the moon! (Score:3, Funny)
Let me ask, have YOU seen any of these "thousands of hours" of high-res tapes that you refer to. Have you seen a single original frame? The fact is that Williams and Kranz (top brass in charge of the archives and missions at NASA) conceed that the original data is misplaced, believed wiped.
All we have now is re-filmed qvga-res shit: tv-grabs, literally.
But don't despair, for NASA, like the OJ, just might finally find the reel killer.
What's funny is that one would need post-doctoral training to even understand just the kind of info one could extract from high-quality TV scans; I do not expect you to understand.
The bottom like is that whether the TV feeds came from the Moon or from a set [wikimedia.org] we will not know until the original tapes can be examined.
Problems with this article (Score:1, Funny)
(As to whether hotter objects fall faster than colder objects, I don't know yet. That's something else I've been wondering.)
Not yours! (Score:2, Funny)
Hey! Just cause you Yanks got there first doesn't make it yours, m'kay?
Obligatory movie qoute (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Problems with this article (Score:3, Funny)
Force of Gravity = 6.67 * 10- mass1 * mass2 / distance
distance = ½ * acceleration * time
time = (2 * distance / acceleration) ^ ½