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Lunatic fringe: blogger says moon's feelings could be hurt by space probe
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After more than a year of successful service, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kaguya probe ended its mission with a planned crash on the moon's surface. Originally launched in 2007, the probe was so successful that it was extended for several months in a lower orbit.
The end-of-mission went as planned. JAXA reports:
- Impact date
- 18:25, June 10, 2009 (GMT) Near side, night time area
- Impact location
- E80.4, S65.5
- Lunar phase & age on impact date
- 17.3 (London)
Good news, right? Not according to blogger Satya Harvey, who's all dithered about dissecting frogs and scientists not asking the moon what she wanted to happen.
A self-styled "priestess, shaman, visionary" and an astrologer, Harvey has appointed herself as the spokesperson for the moon. Decrying "destruction" and the apparent failure of scientists to "talk to the moon" about the mission, Harvey missed several key points.
Apparently, it's news to her that many missions and many objects have impacted the moon. Therefore, we have to say that her post does have value: it's not every day that you see someone promote themselves as the poster child for scientific and historical illiteracy.
Other than that, what about the moon's hurt girly feelings? To be fair, I asked, but a branch blowing in my back yard gave me the inside scoop: the moon can't reply to queries as she's now in self-esteem and self-actualization therapy.
So that left me back at the poster. And, in spite of the fact that as a female, I'm apparently supposed to be hurting along with the moon, I did come up with other questions.
Starting with this one: what about the man in the moon? For generations, the man in the moon has been a popular staple of stories and mythology.
Are his feelings hurt? Or, even more interestingly, if Harvey's somehow right about the female moon, does this mean that the moon actually is a transgendered entity, having chosen to move from the man in the moon to the feminine side?
That question is well, larger than just one simple commentary column. But it does lead to other questions, like: what about the rabbit in the moon?
The Chinese see a rabbit up there. So do the Cherokee peoples of the Americas. But is this rabbit male or female? Or--dear Lord have mercy!--is the moon actually a furry hermaphrodite?
And here all along I thought that scientific investigation was interesting. How was I to know that men walking on the moon couldn't provide nearly the wide range of questions that Harvey's emotional concerns can spawn?
The image above is an artist's concept of the probe, supplied by JAXA. The probe is fact. The moon is fact. The exploration of the moon by men and machines for decades: also fact.
But the moon's emotional well-being after the JAXA mission? Frankly, Harvey's speculations lead back to another moon story: the one that says the moon is made of green cheese.
In this case, the cheese is well-weathered, cosmically so. And I'm sorry that Harvey just had to go and cut this cheese. Space exploration and science deserve better, as do the indigenous cultures and traditions that she is trying to co-opt for profit.
If you must, get a cheesy whiff here.
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