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Bright Explosion on the Moon

science.nasa.gov

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Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#51

Post by pydanny »

acdha wrote: post #40
pydanny wrote: post #6

Just wanted to say that I helped build this site. It's 2009/2010-era Django site built on feincms with a PostgreSQL backend. Originally it was a Plone site but after a year we realized it was too hard to meet the deadlines of NASA VIPs. So we moved it to Django. Also, myself and the other developers have NEVER been happy with the flash on the front page. :P

I would be remiss in not thanking the Varnish cache developers, too: it's using CloudFront now but Varnish came in quite handy when we suddenly jumped from mostly images to some large videos like http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/21... shortly after launch. The scariest bit of code was probably the scraper + html5lib normalizer I used to migrate something like 15 years of legacy static HTML co…

Thanks for speaking up! FWIW, you did most of the work for the migration and rebuild. I apologize for not naming you when most of this was your work. :-)

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#52

Post by pydanny »

rev087 wrote: post #27
pydanny wrote: post #6

Just wanted to say that I helped build this site. It's 2009/2010-era Django site built on feincms with a PostgreSQL backend. Originally it was a Plone site but after a year we realized it was too hard to meet the deadlines of NASA VIPs. So we moved it to Django. Also, myself and the other developers have NEVER been happy with the flash on the front page. :P

To some this might come off as simple bragging, but I can relate to the sense of accomplishment (and appreciate the little insight into the tech stack).

Well, to be honest, acdha did most of the work for this project. At the time I was stuck being yanked back and forth between several projects per day.

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#53

Post by fractallyte »

Back in 1982, I saw a very bright flash on the Moon - naked eye! It was early Sunday morning (5.22 am) on July 18th.

To this day, I'm not sure what caused it, and I've always eagerly followed up on any reports of 'transient Lunar phenomena', or, as in this instance, 'bright explosions'.

I once spoke to Patrick Moore about it, with a full description (I remember him asking if it was summer time - yes, it was). He was similarly intrigued, and promised to look into it, but I never managed to follow up...

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#55

Post by [deleted] »

motoford wrote: post #18

I saw this once. It was quite a few years back, through my 8" dob in my front yard. I saw a flash and couldn't imagine what it could have been except an impact. After some research online that night I began to doubt myself, most people concluded it was too rare and would not be visible. The next day I saw someone asking in a newsgroup about the mysterious flash he had seen the night before while observing the moon th…

[deleted]

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#57

Post by samwillis »

WA wrote: post #56

In the video on the website: Date: US date format Weight: metric Size: metric Speed: imperial Explosion: metric Consistency is key.

Well NASA has history with making $300 million mistakes with units of mesure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter#Cause_of_f...

  The primary cause of this discrepancy was engineering error. 
  Specifically, the flight system software on the Mars Climate 
  Orbiter was written to take thrust instructions using the 
  metric unit newtons (N), while the software on the ground that 
  generated those instructions used the Imperial measure 
  pound-force (lbf). This error has since been known as the 
  "metric mixup" and has been carefully avoided in all missions 
  since by NASA.

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#58

Post by acdha »

pydanny wrote: post #51
acdha wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be remiss in not thanking the Varnish cache developers, too: it's using CloudFront now but Varnish came in quite handy when we suddenly jumped from mostly images to some large videos like http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/21... shortly after launch. The scariest bit of code was probably the scraper + html5lib normalizer I used to migrate something like 15 years of legacy static HTML co…

Thanks for speaking up! FWIW, you did most of the work for the migration and rebuild. I apologize for not naming you when most of this was your work. :-)

No apology necessary - I find it feels weird to name people unless they're already part of the conversation.

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#59

Post by InclinedPlane »

Ma8ee wrote: post #44
InclinedPlane wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had that impact hit the ground it would have released over 100 kilotons of energy. It would have been far, far more destructive and deadly.

How could it release more energy if it hits the ground? The total kinetic energy released must be the same whether it is released in the atmosphere or on impact with the ground.

100 kilotons of energy released along a several hundred kilometer long tube in the upper atmosphere, at altitudes of tens of kilometers poses much less of a threat to people who live on the surface of the Earth than if all that energy is released at once on the ground.

Re: Bright Explosion on the Moon

#60

Post by Zecc »

WA wrote: post #56

In the video on the website: Date: US date format Weight: metric Size: metric Speed: imperial Explosion: metric Consistency is key.

Are we even sure of the type of ton used in the explosion measurement?
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