MOON
<p>Dec 14, 2011 07:36 PM
just returned from SETI talk by Mtija Cuk  (matt TEA yuh cook)
 
Dec 7, 2009 6:41 PM  <b>Moon is 30 arc minu</b>tes  =  <b>0.5 degr in dia</b>m = diameter of sun =  1/2 of your thumbnail.
 
<b>Lunar formation was a critical, possibly life-enabling feature of early Eart</b>h.
 
Impactor theory was reintroduced by Wm Hartman (seen in<b> Discovery video</b>)
in the 1960's  confirmed by Apollo samples,
 
Also confirmed by Robin Canup's  impactor simulations.
 
<b>After impact Earth day was only 5 hours!!!</b>  and  Moon was located 15,000 miles
from Earth.  It drifts out by 1.5 inches per year  (measured by laser).
(Moon is 240k miles away;  there are 63,360 inches per mile =  10 billion inches away = 1010 inches.
 
Also,  Earth year used to by  <b>410 days</b>.  The moon has slowed the Earth down by
tidal forces  (friction from tides).
 
<b>Tides were MASSIVE early on due to location of Moo</b>n ...  hundreds of feet high and
extended in hundred of miles ...  dragged minerals into the oceans.
 
Shine 1 B watt laser to the moon to measure distance; reflected off mirror.
 
It takes light  2.396 =  2.4  seconds  to make  RT from earth to moon.
 
O2 production began 3 B YA from cyanobacteria.
 
Difficulty of theory:  no magma ocean seen on Earth.
 
(There is a magma ocean on the moon that is 500 to 800 km thick).
 
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