On February 23, 2012, I entered the phrase “earth has two moons” into a Google search. Here is a list of the headlines produced followed by the Website, in parentheses) taking credit for the story.
Earth has two 'moons' right now, theorists say - Technology (MSNBC.com)
Christopher Maag: Surprise: Earth Probably Has Two Moons (Huffington Post)
3753 Cruithne – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Wikipedia)
Earth has always had two moons| Mail Online (The Daily Mail)
Earth has always had two moons!-Hindustan Times (Hindustan Times)
Earth Has Two Moons, But It’s Not What You Think - Technology (Atlantic Wire)
Earth Has Two Moons, But It’s Not What You Think - Yahoo! News (Yahoo News)
Scientists: Earth Has Two moons - Softpedia (Softpedia)
Two Moons on August 27? –Mars Spectacular - Urban Legends (About)
By the end of perusing that Google page, it’s pretty clear that the Earth has two moons. Only one headline, repeated twice, indicates that there is more to the story. And somewhat ironically, of all the sources, only the few lines for the entry from Wikipedia (Scourge of education!) bothers to mention that the use of the word “moon” in the stories is misleading.
For those of you who don’t know, Earth does not have two moons. It has one noticeable, consistent and reliable satellite we call the moon, and the occasional, relatively smaller object, like a massive rock, that gets caught in the Earth’s gravitational pull. The MSNBC article goes on to refer to the particular object of interest as a ‘second moon’, an asteroid caught in Earth’s gravitational field, a “space rock”, one of the “natural satellites other than the moon” and finally “temporary moons”. These words and phrases are only very loosely synonymous, but also indicate a wide vareity of things other than the moon.
I see two major problems with the use of the word “moon” in these headlines. According to Dictionary.com’s primary definition, the moon is the primary natural satellite of the Earth. I think many would see the word “moon” as the name of the object and not the description. The sun is a star; a star is not the sun. In this way, the definition of moon allows for more than one satellite, but not more than one moon, at least for us. As a Star Wars fan, I know that the Ewoks were from the third moon of Endor, but we don’t live on Endor. We only have one moon which leads me to my second point.
The majority of people understand the moon to be the sphere in the sky, but as the moon it has different significance to different people. The moon has inspired everything from creation myths to love songs. A generic satellite in the sky, one replaceable by any other floating object, hasn’t done that, the moon has. So even if there was another sphere, same size, same mass, orbiting the Earth it would not be the mythological, religious, geopolitical moon.
Why am I stomping all over poetic license? I’ll tell you why, thanks for asking, because there are two major aspects of writing: creativity and communication. Creativity should have no boundaries, no rules and no limitations. Communication, however, must so that it can be shared and understood in an expedient manner. There is a place, a n exhalted one, for creativity in communication, but not if it makes the message unclear and confusing.
Imagine you are a young student or just someone new to astronomy or even new to the English language. You are charged with researching the moon. You go to Google, punch up information on the moon and come across this staggering revelation that there are two moons. You write your paper with vim and vigor, excited to learn something new, hand it in and are told you are wrong. You question yourself. Did I misunderstand? You doubt relaible sources like scientists and Google. You are rocked to the very foundation of your being ... okay, maybe not, but the experience would still sting.
However, there is something worse, the information could go unchecked and spread. It would be like the old game of telephone, where a line of people transmit a sentence from ear to mouth. The actual truth is lost as it is passed from person to person. and bold falsehood becomes accebale truth. The Earth is flat. The Earth is the center of the universe. Barbara Hershey did the voice of ET.
That is why it is imperative that the information be presented as concretely and consistently as possible. I know why the expression “two moons” was chosen. It draws eyes to the story. It draws Web surfers to the site, but do the people who surf the Web, particularly the children know that? I belive writers can do better. They must. When the written word is so easily reproduced, when editors put their spin on it, when advertising wants to drive traffic, specificity in words is essential.
If not, it is up to educators to spread the word about the problems in mass communication and to correct the mistakes that are made. Otherwise, children might not be as impressed at the feat of a certain nursery rhyme and the remarkable jump of a cow. Why didn't it clear both moons? Of couse, in this day and age the cow would also face accusations of steroid abuse. Insert your own beefed up joke here.
To see for yourself:
https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tab=nw&authuser=0#hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=hHF-uHb8Ty1q2aIzNzKm8g&cp=15&gs_id=1m&xhr=t&q=earth+has+two+moons&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&authuser=0&site=webhp&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=earth+has+two+m&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=d10435dcaad589af&biw=1619&bih=798
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