Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A Lunar
mare that has a greaterdensity ofrock than the surrounding area
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Ten years earlier the word mascon did not exist; it meant mass concentration and referred to mysterious but ordinary-looking locations on the Moon where the force of gravity noticeably increased.
Space Michener, James 1982
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The massive strike shattered the lithosphere to a depth of 100 kilometers, embedding the impactor as a mascon.
Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast – January 22-24, 2010 | Universe Today 2010
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And then I understood — the thing out there in the lake, the dimple, the mascon — that wasn't just a symbol of a man, someone I could compete with.
The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection Dozois, Gardner 2006
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I finally understood the slowly growing heat rise in the lake — it was energy leakage from whatever that mascon really was, some very exotic bloc of matter, a giant quark, something.
The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection Dozois, Gardner 2006
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I stared down at the rippling black water beneath which lay the mascon.
The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection Dozois, Gardner 2006
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Cameras and instrument packages sent down didn't add much to the picture — the mascon was big, it was inert, and it distorted the lake's temperature profile.
The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection Dozois, Gardner 2006
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"If you're going into the water anyway, you could also see if you could get down to the mascon."
The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection Dozois, Gardner 2006
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Data from the circumlunar flight of Apollo 8 left the mascon effects in question.
First Man James R. Hansen 2005
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Data from the circumlunar flight of Apollo 8 left the mascon effects in question.
First Man James R. Hansen 2005
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Data from the circumlunar flight of Apollo 8 left the mascon effects in question.
First Man James R. Hansen 2005
bilby commented on the word mascon
"And, finally, Hamish LIndsay, author of Tracking Apollo to the Moon notes that imperfect knowledge of the effects of mascons (mass concentrations) may have also contributed. In 2006, Hamish consulted with Jerry Bostick, who served as Flight Dynamics Officer on Gene Kranz's White Team. Bostick tells us, 'It's one of those things that is heard to definitely prove one way or the other, but my opinion is that it was a combination of the tunnel pressure and us not completely understanding - being able to accurately model - the mass concentrations.'
- 'The First Lunar Landing' transcribed by Eric M. Jones, hq.nasa.gov.
October 8, 2008
qms commented on the word mascon
Romantics have asked and will ask on,
Why the moon puts a pockety mask on.
This draws a big boff
From boffins who scoff
At those who would dream on a mascon.
August 19, 2014