The Mountains of the Moon
October 22, 2009 | Posted by maneerat The lack of air is considered by many astronomers to furnish the explanation of the enormous number of “craters” which pit the moon’s surface. There are about a hundred thousand of these strange rings, and it is now believed by many that they are spots where very large meteorites, or even planetoids, splashed into the moon when its surface was still soft. Other astronomers think that they are the remains of gigantic bubbles which were raised in the moon’s “skin,” when the globe was still molten, by volcanic gases from below. A few astronomers think that they are, as is popularly supposed, the craters of extinct volcanoes. Our craters, on the earth, are generally deep cups, whereas these ring-formations on the moon are more like very shallow and broad saucers. Clavius, the largest of them, is 123 miles across the interior, yet its encircling rampart is not a mile high.
Categories: THE OUTLINE OF SCIENCE | 
Tags: Apennines, Astronomers, Blaze, Bubbles, Craters On The Earth, Everlasting Hills, Fountains, Hundred Thousand, Lava, Life On The Moon, Meteorites, Meteors And Comets, Mountains Of The Moon, Mountains On The Moon, Planetoids, Rampart, Shooting Stars, Solar System, Vegetation, Volcanic Gases | 
No Comments »