Greg Laden's Blog

Can you imagine the differences in cosmology, the progress of science, the nature of cultures around the world, if the moon was visibly spinning? Think about that. If that does not blow your mind, go get another cup of coffee and think about it again.

There would be no doubt that the moon is a big round thing up in the sky. There would be some sense of size and distance as the movement would cause our human eyes to see the moon as a three dimensional object, and the lighting effects would probably sort themselves out sufficiently to allow us to infer that the moon is farther than the clouds. That may not seem like much, but this would be a great advance, and more importantly, all human cultures around the world would probably have a similar view (to each other) of at least some aspects of the nature of the moon.

We may also have gone to the moon much earlier, or possibly much later. The technology may have developed at the same pace, so getting there earlier would be difficult. But getting there later is more imaginable ... I mean, who would want to try to land on a giant spinning thing ... that could hurt....

The Japanese spaceship that is circling the moon has been taking some pretty good pictures. (Although 10 percent of Americans believe it is fake ... but that's another story). The latest is an Earth Rise.

Of course, there is not Earth Rise on the moon for the same reason that we don't see the moon spinning. The moon rotates at exactly the same rate as it revolves, so the same exact part of the moon faces the earth all the time. No spinning effect from the earth, no earth rise from the moon. Unless you are in a space ship traveling around and around the moon.

Look HERE to see what you would see if you were in the front seat of such a space ship.