Set Your Watch and Head for the Moon Base

Salvatore Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

"The powerful earthquake that shook Chile on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and made days slightly shorter, a NASA scientist said.

"Richard Gross, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, calculated that the planet's axis would have shifted by eight centimeters during the 8.8 magnitude quake, NASA said.

"'If the planet's axis did shift by eight centimeters during the Chilean quake, days would have shortened by 1.26 microseconds, Gross calculated.'"

From Chile quake shifted axis of the Earth.


Perhaps you've heard that they've discovered water on the surface of the moon. Maybe, like me, you found this fascinating, but wondered how much water: A couple molecules? A few drops? How about: enough for a moon base? That remains to be seen, but it's definitely more than a few drops.