'Moon's Wet': Discovery Of Lunar Water Recalls 'Moon's Haunted' Meme

Rumors of "big moon news" dropping soon ran rampant last week, and today we found out what it was: there is water on the surface of the moon.

A pair of studies published in Nature Astronomy today confirmed the existence of "lunar water," which scientists had long theorized could enable astronauts to live on the moon for extended periods of time. One research team discovered water molecules in a sunny region of the moon, while another estimated that the tiny pockmarks on the moon could provide shelter for over 15,000 miles of ice.

The discoveries were made by an infrared telescope called SOFIA, which is a telescope that flies high in the earth's atmosphere and observes the moon, where scientists discovered subtleties on the moon's surface that they believe are unambiguous signs of water. While the molecules alone are not enough to create water in liquid or ice forms, the theory is that the moon's craters could have ice in high concentrations, considering how cold those areas can get.

While the news certainly has huge implications for the future of exploring the moon, it had a smaller implication for Twitter timelines, as everyone rushed to recall the Moon's Haunted meme from 2018.

In October of 2018, Twitter user @dustinkcouch posted a tweet imagining an astronaut telling NASA scientists the moon was haunted. It went viral, gaining over 114,000 retweets in two years and inspired artistic interpretations in which people drew characters having the dialogue.

With the news that the moon is "wet," the meme found new life on Twitter, with even the Washington Post posting about the story with a reference to the meme.

While everyone rushed to gain likes and retweets, I'm sure we're all thankful that scientists didn't discover the moon was haunted.