How in the Middle Ages monks watched a mysterious explosion on the moon

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On an early summer evening on June 18, 1178, five monks from Canterbury witnessed an amazing celestial phenomenon. Imagine the depth of their amazement when they saw “fire, burning coals and sparks” emanating from the moon and it suddenly split in two! Until recently, many astronomers believed that this event coincided with the formation of the lunar crater Giordano Bruno. Obviously, something hit the Earth's satellite. What kind of mysterious astronomical phenomenon did the monks observe?

Chronicle of Gervas

The monk Gervas was the chronicler of Christ Church Abbey. He claimed that he recorded everything that happened from the words of the witnesses exactly. Gervas wrote that the men were looking at the new crescent when they suddenly saw that its upper part suddenly “split in two”. The monk wrote: “From the central part of the moon a kind of flaming torch flared up, spewing out fire, burning coals and sparks at a considerable distance. Meanwhile, Luna twitched like a wounded snake. Then everything stopped, and then it happened again. The outlandish phenomenon was repeated over and over again, several dozen times. The blazing fire took on an infinite number of different forms. He disappeared and reappeared. Suddenly everything stopped. After all this, the crescent of the Moon, from edge to edge, along its entire length, turned black."

This story, described by a medieval monk, remained forgotten for centuries. It was only in the 70s of the last century that the geophysicist, Jack Hartung, rediscovered it. Since then, these recordings have invariably aroused great interest among astronomers around the world. Hartung suggested that the monks witnessed an asteroid collision with the Moon or a meteorite fall. Experts believed that, most likely, as a result of this event, the 22-kilometer crater Giordano Bruno was formed. The time period of its formation corresponded to the date of the extraordinary phenomenon observed then.

Scientific research

Scientists argue that this popular idea does not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Some believe that this celestial spectacle, witnessed by five people in 1178, was the impact that created Giordano Bruno's lunar crater. However, recent analysis of ancient astronomical archives casts doubt on this theory.

Giordano Bruno. The fact is that such a collision would cause a week-long meteor storm on Earth, similar to a blizzard. It was simply impossible not to notice something like this. Meanwhile, there is no mention of anything like this anywhere. No world historical texts contain a single mention of anything like that! Further, in detail about everything in order.

In 1976, a geologist suggested that the description of the phenomenon was consistent with the location and age of the lunar crater Giordano Bruno, the youngest crater of its size on the Moon. Judging by its size, it was the impact of a huge asteroid. The point is that such an incident would jeopardize the safety of our planet. Obviously, the theory is having problems. The lack of historical records is far from everything.

Crater Giordano Bruno simply could not have formed just eight centuries ago. Astronomer Tomokatsu Morota claims that this crater is between one and ten million years old. Cosmogeologist Jörg Fritz also believes that the Giorgiano Bruno crater is at least a million years older. He also added that there are no signs of such youth in this education.

In addition, experts in astronomy say that a blow of such force would have lifted an incredible amount of debris. This, in turn, would cause a real meteor storm on Earth. It would have lasted at least a week. If in 1178 people witnessed the formation of the Giordano Bruno crater, they should have also witnessed a heavy meteor shower on the following nights. But no one has documented what must have been a very impressive fireworks display in any of the world's annals of astronomy. This suggests that the monks did not actually witness the collision of the moon with an asteroid.

So what did the monks see?

Paul Withers of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Research Laboratory believes that these people simply saw a meteorite explode in the Earth's atmosphere in front of the moon's dark disk. “I think they were in the right place at the right time to look up into the sky and see a meteorite that was right in front of the moon and was flying in their direction,” Withers said. “And it was a pretty impressive meteorite. It caught fire in the Earth's atmosphere. These five were just lucky to see something like that."

The researcher also suggests that people have never seen anything so impressive. He believes that the moon was not yet visible in Canterbury that evening on June 18, 1178. Perhaps the date was wrong? Or maybe the whole episode is just fictional? For example, historian Peter Nokolds believes that Gervas's story was complete fantasy.

“The alleged event took place during the Crusades,” explains Nokolds. “The moon is a well-known symbol of Islam. The phenomenon described by Gervas can be interpreted as a harbinger of the defeat of Islam. After all, monks used to associate heavenly phenomena with Christian victories in the crusades. Gervas himself made similar assumptions on several occasions. The lunar phenomenon described on June 18, 1178 may be a propaganda fiction. This could have been politically justified and said that Islam would be defeated if Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, intervened.

History riddle or fantasy

Not a single chronicle of that time recorded such a phenomenon. This led scientists to believe that Withers was right. The witnesses of the event were simply in the right place at the right time. They were lucky enough to see the impressive spectacle of the collision of the moon with a meteorite.

So the puzzle is solved? Perhaps there was not even anything mysterious here. After all, some scientists still consider everything described by Gervase to be simply the fruit of his imagination. It is possible that no one will ever know the truth.

If you are interested in the topic of astronomical phenomena in history, read our article. the mysterious sky battle over Nuremberg in 1561: eyewitness accounts and opinions of scientists.