Asteroid Crashes the Moon?Read the following article and then answer the questions concern...

Asteroid Crashes the Moon?

Read the following article and then answer the questions concerning the differences among observations, hypotheses, and predictions.

Asteroid Crashes the Moon?

Early in the morning of November 15, 1953, amateur astronomer Leon Stuart was looking at the surface of the moon through his homemade telescope. As he watched, he saw a bright flash that seemed to come from the lunar surface. He was able to snap a photograph of the event on a camera connected to the telescope. Stuart published the image in a journal for amateur astronomers and wrote a short article that interpreted the flash as the only known record of an asteroid crashing into the moon. Over the years since its publication, Stuart’s interpretation has been challenged. Some scientists have suggested that what he actually observed was a “point meteor,” an asteroid burning up in Earth’s atmosphere as it moved directly toward the observer. In this interpretation, the moon would simply have been present in the background behind the burning meteor. Those who support this interpretation point out that the flash was observed for 8 seconds, much longer than would be expected for a meteorite impact.

Jump forward to 2001. Dr. Bonnie Buratti and her research assistant compared images of the moon’s surface taken by the Clementine spacecraft in 1994 with Stuart’s original photograph. They estimated the size of a crater that would have been formed by the Stuart event on the basis of the size and brightness of the flash. They discovered a small, “fresh-looking” crater of the appropriate size in the center of their search area and inferred it to represent the crater formed by the meteorite impact. Their results were published in the astronomy journal Icarus in January 2003.

Still, many astronomers were skeptical. Soon after publication of Buratti’s article, John Westfall, an expert on the features of the lunar surface, examined archive photographs taken by the 100-inch Mount Wilson telescope in 1919 and found the same crater. Clearly it could not be the product of a 1953 meteorite impact if it was already present in 1919! The mystery continues.

Sources: New York Times, March 4, 2003, by Henry Fountain; Toronto Star, March 9, 2003; Jet Propulsion Lab, Cal Tech.

Questions

1. Which of the following represents a key hypothesis presented in this article?

a) Meteorites don’t collide with the moon very often.

b) Craters on the moon are formed by meteorite impacts.

c) A meteorite impact on the moon was photographed in 1953.

d) Most young craters on the moon have a “fresh” appearance.

2. What was the principal observation used to support the hypothesis?

a) An article appeared in an amateur astronomy journal.

b) Leon Stuart photographed a bright flash on the moon’s surface.

c) Dr. Buratti found a recently formed crater on images of the moon taken by the Clementine spacecraft.

d) Meteorites hit the moon once or twice a century.

3. What key prediction was tested in an attempt to prove the hypothesis?

a) A small, fresh-looking crater would be present in a specific location.

b) A bright flash would be visible on the moon’s surface.

c) Craters would be present on the moon.

d) A meteorite could be observed at the location of Stuart’s original photograph.

4. Which hypothesis was falsified in this article?

a) The bright flash represented a point meteor.

b) An asteroid collided with the moon on November 15, 1953.

c) A crater photographed by the Clementine spacecraft was formed by the impact event.

d) The Mount Wilson telescope observed the same crater in 1919.