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Article: THE MOON Why we are still charmed by our silvery companion The landing on the lunar surface 40 years ago may have damaged the mystique of the Moon, but it remains a good friend to Earth and retains many of its ancient secrets - including how it got there, writes William Langley
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- July 19, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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IT MAY have been a giant leap for mankind, but for popular
culture it was one big, embarrassing belly flop. Nasa's lunar
landing of 40 years ago stole the Moon's mystique, and forced us to
accept that it's really just another piece of space rock.
Fortunately, that's about all we had to accept. For the Moon's
ancient secrets remain essentially intact, its behaviour patterns
baffling, and its origins uncertain. Described by Isaac Asimov as
"the strangest object in the known universe", the moon has exercised
an irresistible fascination on the human race since the days when
cavemen were recording its phases on cave walls. Songwriters
(Rodgers and Hart), poets (Coleridge, Shelley, De La Mare) ...