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	Astronomer May Have Solution to Moon Mystery posted: 12:19 pm ET 21 October 1999

For centuries, people have claimed to see brief flashes of light, fleeting clouds and other brief, unexplainable events on the Moon

For centuries, people have claimed to see brief flashes of light, fleeting clouds and other brief, unexplainable events on the moon.

While astronomers have never been able to explain the events, a retired astronomer offered a possible answer in this week's issue of "New Scientist" magazine.

Winifred Cameron, who worked at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, told "New Scientist" that brief color changes might be caused by small gas eruptions throwing dust around. Pockets of gas thought to exist in the lunar soil might occasionally escape.

Further, the magazine reports, a fresh review of images produced by the Clementine spacecraft in 1994 reveal that a small area on the Moon's surface darkened and reddened.

The exact cause of the change in the Clementine images remains uncertain, and the whole moon mystery remains unsolved.

Bonnie Buratti of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. told "New Scientist" that "the events were observed on many occasions, but most astronomers don't believe in them."

On April 23, 1994, about 100 amateur astronomers reported that a dark area appeared for about 40 minutes near the edge of the bright lunar crater Aristarchus. At the same time, Clementine was mapping the lunar surface.

Intrigued by the reports, Buratti's team has since taken a close look at the Clementine data to see if the satellite also recorded the event. According to "New Scientist," the researchers found that the crater looked different before and after the amateur reports, taking on a red cast. Buratti announced the findings last week at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Padua, Italy.

"I'm pretty sure that some of these changes are due to emanations of gas that are more dense than usual," Cameron told the magazine. "The Aristarchus region is the source of about a third of all of these."