RR: boom, baby!

<randomrant>

When I'm puttering around with no clue what to write I sometimes check to see what happened in history on the current day.  This isn't a perfect scheme, since it's fair to debate what that really means, what with various calendar changes and all (I'm looking at you, 1752).  Still, screw it, this is what I'm doing.

So just after sunset on June 25th, 1185 (or June 18th in the old calendar), five monks in Canterbury reported to the abbey's chronicler that they  saw something explode on the Moon.

I first heard this tidbit on Sagan's Cosmos.  He claimed that Apollo detected the ringing aftershock, however, it seems there are some reasons to be less that 100% sure of what happened.  Still, let's give the monks the benefit of the doubt.

in 1185 they saw the creation of the crater named Giordano Bruno.  Now stuff is hitting the Moon all the time, just like stuff is constantly pelting the Earth (to the tune of about 100 tons per day).  What's remarkable is seeing anything big going thud.  And to be honest, it's much nicer for it to hit the Moon than the Earth (with sincere apologies to any future Moon inhabitants reading this 100 years from now, don't you have anything better to do than reading old crap?).

And so, ever since then, when I look up at the Moon, it's with a vague sense of expectation.  I want to see something hit it.  I want to see a fireball.  Come on, give me something!

</randomrant>