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Kyle Gordon

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Kyle was born and raised in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. His childhood was spent scurrying barefooted along the banks of various rivers and dams, fishing rod ever-in-hand, enjoying the beauty and freedom of outdoors. Kyle obtained a degree in construction from UCT ...

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17 Comments

on From Cosmic Collision to Celestial Beauty: The Story of the Moon’s Formation

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Amazing, nearly unimaginable, this development of Earth and Moon.
Great pictures and very well explained.

Thanks Christa, I’m glad you enjoyed!

Thanks for the lesson Kyle. The moon and night skies are truly beautiful.

Senior Digital Ranger

Very nice! The mare basalts are what geologists call flood basalts. Ironically, there are flood basalts close to you. The Karoo basalts run all along the eastern edge of South Africa (through Kruger Park) and turn in the northern part of the country to run east-west through the Karoo (hence, the name). They even extend into the eastern part of South America where they are called the Entendeka basalts. I actually used a lot of data from these basalts in my work when I was in South Africa. South Africa is blessed with fascinating geology!

Thanks, Paul, I’m definitely going to look into this!

Senior Digital Ranger

If you are interested in basalts in other parts of the solar system, you might give a view to those on the asteroid Vesta. We just (yesterday) published a paper on those. The link is https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/accb98. It’s open access so it’s free.

Busy reading this now, very interesting!

I have always been fascinated by astronomy and the vastness of the universe. Thank you for the fascinating insight into the Moon. I remember well Neil Armstrong’s first step – it is long past time when humans again walk on the Moon.

It definitely is, Jeff!

Loved this!!! Thank you for an unexpectedly beautiful post!🤩👍

Thank you for reading, Jenn, I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Senior Digital Ranger

Hey Kyle, very interesting information. I never new about the gravity, core & reason we only see 1 face. Pretty fantastic if you think about it. Just curious if star trails are in your repertoire?

Hi Ann, the moon is a fascinating subject for sure. And yes, I do enjoy trying to capture star trails. As we go deeper into winter and the haze clears I’ll definitely be trying a few of those!

My goodness Kyle, that was a lot to take on board but really fascinating. I had known about the man in the moon as I do live in the northern hemisphere, but learned something new about what you see in the southern hemisphere. When I’m back in South Africa next year, hopefully there will be a full moon so I can take a look. Terrific blog!

Thanks so much, Denise. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Very interesting Kyle, will certainly try using my binoculars to see if I can see someone new out there.

Hi Valmai, yes you must definitely try have a look at the next full moon!

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