Corrected identification of object about to hit the moon (opens in new tab)

Definitely sun glare, this is a picture taken from a Sun-synchronous orbit.

The title here says "Object about to hit moon is from Chang'e 5, not SpaceX", the article says it is still not confirmed, and is just a best-guess.

The actual article title is, "Corrected identification of object about to hit the moon" - HN often fixes titles that have been paraphrased or inferred, like here.

Parent may or may not be trying to assign blame, but they do make a very salient observation: there is, as a rule, very little verification from initial reporting to strong global reaction. And that's a rule, not something having to do with this particular instance.

No, but you can wait a few days and reserve judgement until it's confirmed by several sources. It's not like it something you need or could act on.

Today, the news arrive fast, and the reaction to the news is instant.

On the other hand, after several years of covid crisis, my opinion on the whole thing is very much in flux, and when I discuss it with people, I don't give definitive statements, nor raise an outrage.

So yes, the reaction here seems it could be a problem... if confirmed :)

You should’ve seen the storm of outrage on Twitter though. It’s actually rather a charitable take on the typical mob mentality that was on full display.

A single deep breath and a moment’s consideration would have revealed that this kind of thing is totally normal in space exploration. The outrage was driven purely bu the fact that it was Musk, and by the wording of the report, along the lines of “evil billionaire’s out of control rocket slams into moon.”

Elon Musk fanboys always start a fight with "I don't understand why [entity] is so dismissive of [Elon Musk's project]" line, which fixate the view and prime the flamewar. Don't feed them.

If you're not making anyone mad, you're probably not doing anything important.

Viel Feind, viel Ehr!

Given what follows the second quote, it appears to be a simple typo: "It was unclear..." would better fit. Also given what follows, the author seems justified in writing that first quote, which follows the presentation of the reasoning suggesting that it is the Chang'e 5-T1 mission's booster.

Yeah I would try to locate the SpaceX suspected object just in case, and to establish how close it will pass by the moon.

There's plenty to hate on Elon for but it's possibly clear that a lot of people are looking for a news article to bandwagon onto rather then having a specific issue or issues they care about.

There were definitely a bunch of people trying to cast around for some reason a booster hitting the moon was just clear disaster (it wasn't and would never be).

This always depends on where you look.

I don't know why people are downvoting you for what has become an objectively true position to hold. In just the past 10 years, journalism has taken such a nose dive that I'm legitimately nonplussed when people take everything they read in The New York Times Company's paper, or Jeff Bezos' The Washington Post as gospel fact.

Let's not even start with Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC.

Look back just to 2014 when Rolling Stone magazine published the completely unverified, and eventually debunked story, "A Rape on Campus". It was just a load of made-up bullshit. And then other outlets started to seize on the controversy and posted their own stories. The entire story was proven false, and it also resulted in a large settlement for the accused parties involved.

People have lied since the dawn of humanity whenever it suits their needs; there's no reason to think we've significantly changed now.

It’s surprising, as GP said, how little verification was made by news outlets. Chastising people for believing “everything” simply because they believed this is a different matter. Especially when otherwise reputable sources such as ESA post the information.

https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Incoming!_D...