Fossils on the Moon?

7 Responses to Fossils on the Moon?

1. Glenn W. Smith says:

   February 16, 2015 at 4:51 pm

   Dr. Spudis,

   The following, in my opinion, is your money line:

   “But the past 50 years of planetary exploration have certainly taught us that the most unlikely of events not only have occurred, but in some cases, have occurred more frequently than we ever imagined.”

   Who would have imagined, for example, that the surface of Mars would be littered with almost perfectly preserved iron-nickel meteorites? And note well: I am not citing this to advance a Mars first policy, but rather to second your main argument, that the Moon will prove to be a treasure trove for the study of our own Earth.

   Regards,
   G. W. Smith
   • Paul Spudis says:

     February 16, 2015 at 4:58 pm

     Actually, that was not totally unexpected. We knew that debris had bombarded Mars for its history and that with an atmosphere, such material could be slowed down enough to land softly and be preserved on the surface. Nonetheless, your point that it took us aback is valid. Nature is always more subtle, more complex and more interesting than we imagine it to be.
2. gbaikie says:

   February 16, 2015 at 8:40 pm

   50 million years ago the moon would have been slightly closer to Earth- 3 cm a year- 1500 km closer. And basically same moon as we have today. With the impactor which killed the dinosaur I wonder what the at least amount earth material which was ejected to escape velocity.
   I guess that would depend upon how fast it hit Earth, and heard some think it may have been a comet [so very fast and lot ejected to escape].

   As for billions of years ago, the moon would been a lot closer, and I suppose a bit smaller and less regolith.
   It seems possible to me that Earth could have had “alien” life which was snuffed out by the earlier
   impactors events. So life earlier than 3.8 billion years.
3. J FIncannon says:

   February 17, 2015 at 9:23 am

   How do the following papers relate to your article? Gilvarry seems to imply lunar life (as shown by fossils) originating from the Moon itself. Sagan seems to be more towards “organic matter”. Givarry states: “It follows that future lunar explorers should find organic fossils below the depth of roughly 3 to 5 meters fixed by the charring action of the most penetrating radiation, the cosmic rays.” and “Accordingly, it will be postulated that a pristine form of life once existed in the lunar hydrosphere.” Since the Apollo astronauts seemed to go no further than 3 m, can we assume that the postulation has been neither confirmed or rejected?

   Title: Observability of Indigenous Organic Matter on the Moon
   Author: Gilvarry, J. J.
   http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1966Icar….5..228G
   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0019103566900315

   Title: Organic matter and the Moon
   Author: C. Sagan
   Natl. Acad. Sci.-Natl. Res. Council, Publ.,, 757 (1961)
   http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1961orm..book…..S

   Title: Indigenous organic matter on the Moon
   Author: C. Sagan
   Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.,, 46 (1960), pp. 393–396
   http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1960PNAS…46..393S
   http://www.pnas.org/content/46/4/393.full.pdf+html
   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC222849/

   Title: The search for indigenous lunar organic matter.
   Author: Sagan, C.
   http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1972SpLS….3..484S
   • Paul Spudis says:

     February 17, 2015 at 10:15 am

     How do the following papers relate to your article?

     In the same way that Immanuel Velikovsky‘s cosmology relates to modern plate tectonics and Solar System origins studies.

     Sagan’s papers were pre-Apollo speculations, long-shots even 50 years ago. Gilvarry’s stuff is pure quackery.
4. JohnG says:

   February 18, 2015 at 2:50 pm

   I suppose it would also be possible for Earth bits to have made their way to Earth-Moon Lagrangian points as well. Has any spacecraft with imaging systems ever detected anything rocky or geologic at, or in orbit around, an Earth-Moon Lagrange point?
   • Paul Spudis says:

     February 18, 2015 at 4:02 pm

     There have been identifications of certain NEOs that look like they may have been “captured” into Earth orbit. Typically, such debris has a short lifetime and eventually collides with Earth or Moon or is ejected into solar orbit.

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