273: Chapter 273: A bigwig from the Chinese Academy of Sciences invites Jiang Zhe, but sorry, he's sleeping.

At three in the morning, on Weibo, another trending topic surged up.

[What If Venusians Came to Earth!]

For the first few hours, the blogger and followers were relatively professional, but as time passed, the comment section started to go off the rails.

"Venusians: We threw the Moon to you back then, now it is time to return it to us, right?"

"Earthlings: Not returning it, not returning it, the Moon belongs to our family!"

"Venusians: That is my daughter!"

"Earthlings: A married-off daughter is like spilled water!"

"Hahahaha, you all have had enough!"

"Dying of laughter, the Moon has become an international dispute!"

"Suggest the United Nations hold a meeting to discuss the ownership of the Moon!"

"..."

Zhihu.

A trending topic dominated the charts.

[How to evaluate the hypothesis that the Moon came from Venus, as told by Xiaoyu's brother tonight?]

As always, for this kind of professional question, it was basically people claiming to be astrophysicists speaking up.

Anonymous User: "Just went through the recording from start to finish. Conclusion: This might be the craziest and most self-consistent hypothesis about the origin of the Moon in the last fifty years."

"Let me break it down point by point!"

"1: The Moon being hollow and its density inversion."

"This is hard evidence. The Moon's average density is 3.34, and the surface rock density is also 3.3-3.5, which indicates that the internal density is not greater than the outside."

"This violates the normal structure of all planets and cannot be explained."

"He provided the hydraulic damping evidence from the lunar seismic experiments of the last century, which can indeed be found in the NASA database. This is indisputable."

"2: The one-quarter ratio."

"Venus's mass is 0.815 times that of Earth, and its volume is 0.88 times that of Earth."

"If Venus once had a satellite with a volume one-quarter that of Venus, then the volume of that satellite would be exactly one-quarter of Earth—which is the size of the Moon."

"This ratio is too coincidental, so coincidental that it cannot be explained away as a mere coincidence—this lays the foundation for a hypothesis that the Moon came from Venus."

"I don't know if it's true or false, but this one-quarter is very clever. Even in academia, it could make those few bigwigs take notice."

"3: Double tidal locking."

"This is the most stunning part of tonight. The twisted terrain on the far side of the Moon indeed fits the characteristics of being tidally locked."

"And the direction of the locking isn't pointing toward Earth, so who is it pointing to?"

"Of course, it's Earth's neighbor: Venus."

"If the Moon was once a satellite of Venus, locked by Venus for billions of years, those terrains on the far side would make perfect sense."

"Later, it was knocked out of Venus's orbit, was jointly locked by Earth and Venus for a few hundred years, and was finally captured by Earth."

"He used the double tidal locking of Mars as an analogy, and the logical chain is perfect."

"In the scientific community, it could similarly gain recognition from some crazy scientists."

"Currently, science is: [If you can convince others, congratulations, you are the truth!]"

"4: Global mythological records of two moons."

"I am not an expert in this part, but I just checked the additions from history experts in the comment section. In China, India, Babylon, Greece, Maya, and among the indigenous peoples, all ancient civilizations around the world had no records of the Moon before the Great Flood, but after the Great Flood, legends of [two moons] suddenly appeared."

"I remain skeptical about this; after all, some countries' cultures might be adulterated, or involve plagiarism or the like."

"This can only be circumstantial evidence. Xiaoyu's brother himself said in the live stream [This is circumstantial evidence, I usually don't talk about it]."

"I really admire him for knowing what can truly be argued and what is not too true and cannot be argued!"

"5: The only loophole!"

"Of course, this hypothesis also has a fatal problem. To blast the Moon out of Venus's orbit, the energy required is too great."

"And the conditions for it to be subsequently captured by Earth are so harsh as to be impossible."

"He cited the Three-Body Problem to explain it. Yes, it is theoretically feasible, but the probability is extremely low."

"On this point, he has done his best. After all, it was Xiao Yu who asked first, and as an older brother, he surely had to give a plausible answer."

"However, adding one more factor: artificial intervention."

"Then the [Three-Body Problem] is easily solved."

"If it were me, I would lead from the hollow Moon theory to extraterrestrial creation, since it was mentioned before that the Moon is indeed not an ordinary celestial body—it's so unusual that it seems artificial—and then I would solve it using the Three-Body Problem and double tidal locking; that way, it would be even more perfect—of course, I am speaking with hindsight."

"But I estimate that Brother probably knows these things, but he doesn't really want to talk about them!"

With the step-by-step analysis from the professional experts, the academic high-achievers passing by felt their scalps tingle.

"The expert's analysis is so clear!"

"Professional people speak professional words; this hypothesis seems like it can really stand up!"

"Low probability doesn't mean impossible. The universe is built on countless impossibilities. I agree with Brother's series of conditions."

"Suggest the expert go and do a joint live stream with Brother!"

"To the person above, Brother doesn't even know he's being live-streamed."

"Dying of laughter, experts across the entire internet are analyzing him, while he himself has started sleeping every day after finishing his lecture!"

...

Next, the hottest post is the second response from this postdoctoral researcher in astronomy.

This is from a PhD in history, with a minor in geology.

[Anonymous User]: "I will add some things from the perspective of historical mythology."

"I have basically verified all the mythological evidence that Xiaoyu's brother cited tonight."

"The Altai Mountain petroglyphs in northern Xinjiang indeed exist, and the archaeological dating is about 30,000 to 50,000 years ago."

"The radiation patterns on that moon map can indeed only be seen with a telescope; if the Moon was close enough to Earth at that time, it would have been possible to see the craters with the naked eye."

"What does this mean? It means that at that time, the Moon was very close to Earth, terrifyingly close."

"And the Tiantai Mountain petroglyphs in the Greater Khingan Range, twelve thousand years ago, show seven people worshiping two moons."

"You might not know about this, but I have been there for field research. The petroglyphs are well-preserved, with two circular carvings side by side, surrounded by rays of light; the local cultural relics bureau's explanation is [worshiping celestial bodies], but why are there two?"

"The staff at the cultural relics bureau don't know either."

"Then there is the Aztec Moon Goddess stone carving from Mexico, the dismembered Moon."

"The core of this myth is [the Moon was thrown into the sky], which perfectly aligns with the hypothesis of Venus throwing out the Moon."

"Babylonian clay tablet BM86378 indeed records [two bright disks appearing in the sky]."

"I have seen the actual object of this clay tablet; the two circular symbols under the cuneiform script are not the Sun, because the Sun has a specific symbol on Babylonian clay tablets."

"Then there is the record from Demetrius of Ancient Greece, [In ancient times, the Moon could not be seen in Earth's sky]. He was the first head of the Library of Alexandria and had read countless ancient manuscripts; as for what he said, I tell you, [it cannot, be, viewed, as, mythology]."

"Finally, there is the Indian Mahabharata, [A new celestial body appeared in the sky, brighter than the old one, coming from the south, gradually occupying the entire night sky]. If this is not a description of the process of the Moon approaching Earth, then what else could it be?"

"Brothers, what Brother said is very easy to understand. If you just string these myths together, you will discover that they are not myths, but the chronicles of Earth in ancient times!"

In the comment section below, the messages gradually increased.

"Holy crap, a history expert has also stepped in!"

"So those gods were all Venusians?"

"Who said they are Venusians? It's just that if there were people on Venus, then it would be closer to us, and it would be more reasonable!"

"To the person above, that is exactly the question Xiao Yu asked at the end!"

"Brother said he would talk about similar things after Xiao Yu finishes her exams. My anticipation is maxed out now!"

"Ahhh, I really want to know what happens next!"

...

As time passed, dawn was about to arrive..

The PhD response that had originally dominated the top spot was suddenly replaced at the top of the list by Elder Wang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"How to evaluate the hypothesis that the Moon came from Venus, as told by Xiaoyu's brother tonight?"

A new answer suddenly surged to the top of the list.

"Let me introduce myself, Wang Liming, former researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, currently retired."

"Got up too early, just finished watching the recording, got up to write a few words."

"I worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for forty years, mainly researching the Earth-Moon system. What this young man said last night kept me awake all night."

"It's not because he is right, but because the way he spoke made me re-examine a lot of data that we have taken for granted."

"For example, the terrain on the far side of the Moon; we have always said that it is the primordial lunar crust, left over from the early formation of the Moon."

"But why does the primordial lunar crust have such obvious directionality? Why are the trends of those mountain ranges almost parallel? Why does the distribution of those craters appear in bands?"

"It's not that we haven't discovered these problems, but we people at the Chinese Academy of Sciences would use chance and coincidence to explain them."

"But [Brother], whom you respectfully call by that name, gave another explanation: that it was left by Venus."

"Whether this explanation can hold water requires more evidence."

"But at least, it is more convincing than coincidence!"

"Take another example, the difference in composition between the front and back sides of the Moon. The samples from the front and back of the Moon brought back by Apollo and Chang'e both show that the rocks on the front of the Moon are rich in iron and titanium; the rocks on the back are rich in aluminum and calcium; how did this difference come about?"

"The mainstream explanation is [magma ocean differentiation], but this explanation has always been controversial."

"And the explanation he gave is tidal stress, which means the front side of the Moon has been touched by Earth for billions of years, bringing the heavy elements to the surface; while the back side of the Moon was touched by Venus for billions of years, keeping the light elements."

"One positive and one negative, it sounds thought-provoking. Perhaps you might not understand, but in the eyes of us old folks, my god, it is too wonderful!"

"As for whether it can hold up?"

"I don't know, but at least, this evidence makes logical sense."

"The thing that kept me awake the most is that one-quarter he talked about."

"If Venus once had a satellite, previously called [Neith], it was later discovered that it might have been an astronomical misunderstanding."

"Do you know what the one-quarter obtained after the misunderstanding is?"

"No one knows, it's just that later Venus's satellite Neith suddenly disappeared, and at that time, Neith was exactly one-quarter of Venus!"

"If the volume of that satellite was one-quarter of Venus, then the volume of that satellite would be exactly the same as the Moon."

"Whether it was the wonderful misunderstanding in the astronomical community hundreds of years ago, or the one-quarter ratio of the Moon to Earth, their result is: one-quarter."

"This ratio is truly too coincidental!"

"I have worked in this trade for a lifetime and have seen too many coincidences, but some coincidences, when they happen too much, are no longer coincidences."

"What he is talking about now, much of it is speculation, which needs verification."

"But that is how science works; first there is a hypothesis, then there is verification."

"The only thing I want to say is, young man, I have also watched your one-day postdoctoral online postdoctoral; if you see my message, you are welcome to come to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to have a deep discussion!"

"Us old folks would like to hear what other grander, broader ideas you have!"

With the retired bigwig from the Chinese Academy of Sciences coming forward to praise him, Jiang Zhe's reputation was elevated to a new level!

"Holy crap, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has even come out!"

"The old gentleman has been turned into a fan of Brother!"

"Awesome, our Zhihu has also developed. Brother was previously mocked as a pseudo-scientist, but ever since he obtained a postdoctoral degree in one day, he suddenly went from a pseudo-scientist to a super academic god. Now he is even invited by a bigwig to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This, damn, is simply a protagonist's life, tears!"

"Brother doesn't even know he's being live-streamed, hahaha!"

...