Despite some scepticism, the suggestion by Hartung in 1976 that the report in the chronicle of Gervase of Canterbury corresponded to a meteorite impact with the moon in 1178, creating the Giordano Bruno crater, retains considerable support, particularly in popular scientific writing. Nevertheless, a series of studies of images of the crater from orbiting satellites, although confirming its young geological age, have indicated that it was not created within recorded human history. In this paper, we examine astronomical entries in Gervase’s chronicle relating to eclipses and conclude that, despite there being descriptions of miracles elsewhere in the manuscript, he himself was a reliable reporter of astronomical events. On this basis an alternative suggestion can be put forward for the splitting of the horns and writhing of the body of the new moon, reported to Gervase: atmospheric turbulence. Although general atmospheric turbulence has been previously dismissed as too small an effect, it is possible to show that the description is consistent with viewing the new moon through a column of hot air from a fire, at a moderate distance and out of the line of sight of the observers. This interpretation of the medieval evidence as credible but unrelated to a lunar event is consistent with twenty-first century lunar studies.

尽管存在一些怀疑，但 Hartung 在 1976 年提出的建议，即坎特伯雷的 Gervase 编年史中的报道对应于 1178 年陨石撞击月球，形成了佐丹奴布鲁诺陨石坑，这一观点得到了相当大的支持，特别是在通俗科学著作中。然而，一系列轨道卫星拍摄的陨石坑图像研究，虽然证实了它的年轻地质年代，但表明它不是在有记录的人类历史中创造的。在本文中，我们检查了 Gervase 编年史中与日食有关的天文条目，并得出结论，尽管手稿的其他地方对奇迹进行了描述，但他本人是天文事件的可靠记者。在此基础上，可以对新月的角分裂和身体扭动提出替代建议，向 Gervase 报告：大气湍流。虽然一般的大气湍流以前被认为影响太小而被驳回，但有可能表明这种描述与通过火中的热空气柱观察新月是一致的，在中等距离和视线之外的观察者。这种将中世纪证据解释为可信但与月球事件无关的解释与 21 世纪的月球研究是一致的。