Hundred million year old moon boulder rolls

reply to post by 0bserver1


Could be that golf ball Alan Sheperd belted in 1971 has snowballed ...

The boulder coming in at an angle off-side from space. Skipping like a stone in a pond...that's my guess

reply to post by Timely


Yeah and hit that boulder, that eventually started to roll , cause: speed equals mass = roll...

Originally posted by metamagic
Hypothesis: The rolling my be the result of some sort of seismic activity or ground movement from a meteor impact in some adjacent area. The ground shakes and the round rock, perhpas restin on slight incline, disloges and rolls.

that one sounds good to me... that seems to be the safest hypothesis to follow in my eyes. lets keep it simple and not scare ourselves to bad with this one, but keep an open mind to other theories as well........

reply to post by 0bserver1


Effect:- Self perpetuating moon marbles?

Rather than the huffington post, here is a link to the actual source of the story at NASA's LRO site...
A recent Journey


And for comparison, here's a similar "boulder rolled down hill on the moon" from last year...
Sampling Schrodinger


and one from 2010...
Hole in One!


and one from way back in 1967...
Lunar Orbiter 5

reply to post by alfa1


Thanks I also noticed that and I edited my entry, also some of them seems to change course as thats what I think , how strange...Intelligent stones ?..

Also it seems that some role and being smashed to pieces by something..I could be wrong as most of us here always are , but what can we make of this ...???

reply to post by Timely


Maybe but what cause this rolling, I've heard stories of stones moving by themselves on flat surfaces, here on earth So and there are more of these cases on the moon, but why say that they are still moving is strange...

I think ArMap put out some good pictures on this. A slope I think is there, and seismic activity does happen on the Moon. Also some scientists theorise that the Moon may have had a molten core, well not strictly the core, but an area between the mantle and the core, enough to liquify the rock and thus the possibilty of movement. It is a proposal to explain the magnetic qualities found in Moon rocks. Other pictures of that area may have a gathering of rolling stones.

The incredible "Jump" of Tracy's Rock...
Incredible boulder


Mod edit: Removed link that added stars automatically to the post.

this is my take on it.


the gravity is a clue there is less gravity on the moon compared to earth thus bigger rocks can be moved by the ice under said rocks melting and refreezing causing the Rock to actually slide since there is less gravity the rocks can move further bigger rocks means bigger tracks. most likely the conditions in this area allow for this same type of "sailing rocks" we see here.



^
that vid isnt very good, this is the video i was thinking of. it is a cool video of the rocks actually moving this video explains it and puts the first video to shame

Originally posted by alfa1
Rather than the huffington post, here is a link to the actual source of the story at NASA's LRO site...
A recent Journey


And for comparison, here's a similar "boulder rolled down hill on the moon" from last year...
Sampling Schrodinger


and one from 2010...
Hole in One!


and one from way back in 1967...
Lunar Orbiter 5

whats ur point coz im missing it?

It's those darn living rocks again. I knew the movie Apollo 18 was real!!!

Just kiddinggg. Im far from knowledgable in the area, but could a meteorite/meteorites been travelling parrallel to the moon and lost velocity on approach skidding or skipping on impact...? Im sure it would have left a longer and deeper trail though. It would help if anyone downloaded the 80 GB Lunar map China has come up with. Or if someone had a topographic map of the areas in question.

reply to post by Arken


Its very strange how this could be possible, these rocks have sizes of campers if not bigger...?

Originally posted by 0bserver1
This is odd, how can this hundred million year old boulder nine meters in diameter roll, and maybe still rolling?

Well if you really want to wonder about something, then how about wondering how it rolled right over what appears to be a pretty deep crater without falling into it and getting stuck?? The track stops at the crater and doesn't start again until well past it as if the rock bounced over the crater and flew quite a distance before landing and rolling some more. And there appear to be several more rocks in the right of the photo (just above center) that haven't moved at all. Very peculiar. I'm sure there's a logical explanation, but it's strange to see something like this on what most consider to be a dead, motionless orb.

From the linked raw file we clearly see this is a slope in a crater, not just a typical slope, notice a convergence of slopeS. Explains the different direction of rolls, even a change in direction of a roll, initiated by tremor likely, from impact or expansion tremor from night to day temperature change. You hear these kinds of things in your house (at least I do), wood creaks but mostly metal ductwork due to expansion when the heater goes on.

Originally posted by 0bserver1
reply to post by Timely

 

Yeah and hit that boulder, that eventually started to roll , cause: speed equals mass = roll...

No the boulder itself came from space at a low angle to the surface of the moon.

Hit, bounced & rolled to a stop, probably millions of years ago.

No atmosphere means the "tracks" will sit there for at least several millions of years, undisturbed.

reply to post by chr0naut


I believe I said something that accents your point

reply to post by chr0naut


Thats one theory I also thought of.. But one particular rock that I pointed out had a really hard angle of lets say 30 degrees and rolled on.. aside another track that already had formed..?