Moon Madness

Jalopnik have a stunning gallery of pics from the failed Soviet Lunar Program.

The Moon has inspired plenty of odd theories over the years and the idea it affects rainfall seems as barmy as the rest, but it might just be true according to boffins, accounting for maybe 2% of rainfall after new and full moons. They're still working out why though. Via io9

NASA might have given up on the Moon but China's second lunar orbiter has arrived successfully.

Apparently lunar craters may have dangerous electrical fields.

From our own celestial companion to Mars' mysterious Phobos which trumps ours by having it's own fricking monolith. Obviously boffins are keen to explain it away as ejecta from an impact but I'll keep thinking of C.Clarke until someone has a closer look.