001: Moon

Buddhists believe that it’s wise to meditate on the Moon, as it’s often used as a symbol of enlightenment. However, when I look at the Moon, I see puzzling things. The accepted origin story of the Moon creates a bit of a riddle. 

The Earth before the Moon is referred to as Earth Mark 1. Mark 1 had a rotation resulting in a day of roughly 18 hours as opposed to the 24 hours we have now. The excepted hypothesis for the creation of the Moon is that a very large planetoid hit the Earth. The collision resulted in two new bodies: Earth Mark 2 and the Moon. The drag of the tidally locked Moon gave Earth Mark 2 the 24-hour day and its 23.5˚ tilt angle relative to the Sun that creates the seasons. Before the collision, Earth Mark 1 was free to change its tilt angle in ways that are not ideal for complex lifeforms. 

So, the configuration of Earth today is the result of a very happy accident, which is a major factor in the existence of human life. Given this scientific understanding, isn’t it weird that Mars also roughly has a 24-hour day. Actually, it’s only about 37 minutes longer. Tilt is also nearly the same at a 25˚ angle. This is generally explained away as coincidences. Mars however doesn’t have the orbital mass to result in this configuration, unlike Earth. It just spontaneously decided to copy the Earth’s configuration, which resulted from a random cosmic cataclysm.

The Earth and Mars are both part of the same solar system, so they came into existence about the same time. However, their stories are very different.

I’m not saying that the unexplainable coincidences are the result of the failed scheme of ancient astronauts to terraform Mars. But you have to say that it’s really convenient now that we’re starting to explore Mars that everything is magically synchronized (cue Twilight Zone music).