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THE man in the moon is humming a tune, but thankfully the noise won't drown out sensors on future missions peeking at the lunar interior.
A steady barrage of small meteorite impacts should cause the moon to "ring", but no seismometers sent to the moon to date have been sensitive enough to hear it. So Philippe Lognonné at the Institute of Earth Physics of Paris and colleagues decided to work out how loud the ring is.
The team estimated the meteorite population in the solar neighbourhood, and calculated the likely seismic signals that would be created by a range of meteorite sizes and velocities as they strike the moon.
The first instrument may be a seismometer proposed for Japan's Selene-2 moon mission, which aims to send a lander to the surface, perhaps as early as 2015.
Proof that the "ringing" of the moon is common knowledge in the scientific and NASA communities is presented in communications between Mission Control and the men aboard the Apollo 17 moon mission on December 29, 1972.
"LUNAR MODULE PILOT (LMP): Was there any indication on the seismometers on the impact about the time I saw a light flash on the surface? CAPCOM: Stand by. We'll check on that.
LMP: A UFO perhaps, don't worry about it. It could have been one of the other flashes of light
CAPCOM: Jack, just some words from the back room for you. There may have been an impact at the time you called, but . So it would mask any other impact." (3)