(Linz, October 12, 2010) At an average of about 384,000 kilometers off in space, the Moon orbits the Earth. It takes a little less than a month to make one revolution. We always see the same side of our planet’s satellite, which, like Earth, also rotates on its axis. Even with the naked eye, we can make out the gigantic craters left behind by the countless meteorites that have crashed into the Moon’s surface. … And by the way: scientists postulate that a collision between the Earth and a massive proto-planet is what gave birth to the Moon about five billion years ago, when an impact of inconceivable magnitude caused one or more huge chunks to break off from the Earth and go into geocentric orbit. Ever since, the Moon has been circling the Earth, each revolution taking it a tiny bit further away… Dietmar Hager, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Ars Electronica Center cordially invite you to Deep Space LIVE “La Luna – Where there’s a moon, there’s life.” This presentation will focus on the Moon’s origins, and on the myths that have arisen over the course of human history about this heavenly body and its influence on the development of terrestrial life … Read more

Northpole of the Moon / NASA, courtesy of nasaimages.org / Printversion / Album