Moonage SpaceDream

A couple of weeks or so I posted the Chang’e 1’s picture of the Moon on my Bowie blog because they named their spaceship after a Bowie album.  That was about as exciting as I thought the story would get.  Here it is again:

I post it again here for a different reason.  The story got strange.  Several noted astronomers couldn’t help but notice there were strange things about the pic.  Originally, it was kind of upside down.  The Chinese explained that fairly well.  Then, there were things where they were not supposed to be.  Like a little crater.  The Chinese claimed they had discovered a new crater.  Emily Lakdawalla solved that one.  It seems the pics came back in strips and they cut and pasted it together to make what it is we see.  Apparently they didn’t do a very good job.  So, the bottom line is nothing terribly exciting has come from the Chinese venture to the Moon.  Which is sorta how I felt in the first place.

And, in the immortal words of Bowie, who this whole adventure seems to reflect his earlier works, this whole thing seems to have turned to face the strange.

( This is not an endorsement of Photoshop, I use that generically as the process used.  )

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