August 2020 the Lunar Observer by the Numbers
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Glossary Glossary
Glossary Glossary Albedo A measure of an object’s reflectivity. A pure white reflecting surface has an albedo of 1.0 (100%). A pitch-black, nonreflecting surface has an albedo of 0.0. The Moon is a fairly dark object with a combined albedo of 0.07 (reflecting 7% of the sunlight that falls upon it). The albedo range of the lunar maria is between 0.05 and 0.08. The brighter highlands have an albedo range from 0.09 to 0.15. Anorthosite Rocks rich in the mineral feldspar, making up much of the Moon’s bright highland regions. Aperture The diameter of a telescope’s objective lens or primary mirror. Apogee The point in the Moon’s orbit where it is furthest from the Earth. At apogee, the Moon can reach a maximum distance of 406,700 km from the Earth. Apollo The manned lunar program of the United States. Between July 1969 and December 1972, six Apollo missions landed on the Moon, allowing a total of 12 astronauts to explore its surface. Asteroid A minor planet. A large solid body of rock in orbit around the Sun. Banded crater A crater that displays dusky linear tracts on its inner walls and/or floor. 250 Basalt A dark, fine-grained volcanic rock, low in silicon, with a low viscosity. Basaltic material fills many of the Moon’s major basins, especially on the near side. Glossary Basin A very large circular impact structure (usually comprising multiple concentric rings) that usually displays some degree of flooding with lava. The largest and most conspicuous lava- flooded basins on the Moon are found on the near side, and most are filled to their outer edges with mare basalts. -
TRANSIENT LUNAR PHENOMENA: REGULARITY and REALITY Arlin P
The Astrophysical Journal, 697:1–15, 2009 May 20 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/697/1/1 C 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. TRANSIENT LUNAR PHENOMENA: REGULARITY AND REALITY Arlin P. S. Crotts Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA Received 2007 June 27; accepted 2009 February 20; published 2009 April 30 ABSTRACT Transient lunar phenomena (TLPs) have been reported for centuries, but their nature is largely unsettled, and even their existence as a coherent phenomenon is controversial. Nonetheless, TLP data show regularities in the observations; a key question is whether this structure is imposed by processes tied to the lunar surface, or by terrestrial atmospheric or human observer effects. I interrogate an extensive catalog of TLPs to gauge how human factors determine the distribution of TLP reports. The sample is grouped according to variables which should produce differing results if determining factors involve humans, and not reflecting phenomena tied to the lunar surface. Features dependent on human factors can then be excluded. Regardless of how the sample is split, the results are similar: ∼50% of reports originate from near Aristarchus, ∼16% from Plato, ∼6% from recent, major impacts (Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho, and Aristarchus), plus several at Grimaldi. Mare Crisium produces a robust signal in some cases (however, Crisium is too large for a “feature” as defined). TLP count consistency for these features indicates that ∼80% of these may be real. Some commonly reported sites disappear from the robust averages, including Alphonsus, Ross D, and Gassendi. -
August 2017 Posidonius P & Luther
A PUBLICATION OF THE LUNAR SECTION OF THE A.L.P.O. EDITED BY: Wayne Bailey [email protected] 17 Autumn Lane, Sewell, NJ 08080 RECENT BACK ISSUES: http://moon.scopesandscapes.com/tlo_back.html FEATURE OF THE MONTH – AUGUST 2017 POSIDONIUS P & LUTHER Sketch and text by Robert H. Hays, Jr. - Worth, Illinois, USA March 5, 2017 01:28-01:48; UT, 15 cm refl, 170x, seeing 7-8/10. I drew these craters on the evening of March 4/5, 2017 while the moon was hiding some Hyades stars. This area is in northeast Mare Serenitatis west of Posidonius itself. Posidonius P is the largest crater on this sketch. The smaller crater south of P is Posidonius F and Posidonius G is the tiny pit to the north. There is a halo around Posidonius G, but this crater is noticeably north of the halo's center. A very low round swelling is northeast of Posidonius G. Luther is the crater well to the west of Posidonius P. All four of these craters are crisp, symmetric features, differing only in size. There are an assortment of elevations near Luther. The peak Luther alpha is well to the west of Luther, and showed dark shadowing at this time. All of the other features near Luther are more subtle than Luther alpha. One mound is between Luther and Luther alpha. Two more mounds are north of Luther, and a low ridge is just east of this crater. A pair of very low mounds are south of Luther. These are the vaguest features depicted here, and may be too conspicuous on the sketch. -
Diameter and Depth of Lunar Craters - Course: HET 602, June 2002 Supervisor: Barry Adcock - Student: Eduardo Manuel Alvarez
Project: Diameter and Depth of Lunar Craters - Course: HET 602, June 2002 Supervisor: Barry Adcock - Student: Eduardo Manuel Alvarez Diameter and Depth of Lunar Craters Abstract The aim of this project is to find out the size and height of some features on the surface of the Moon from obtained observational field measures and the afterwards proper calculation in order to transform them into the corresponding physical final values. First of all it will be briefly described two different proceedings for the acquisition of the observational field measures and the theoretical development of the formulae that allow the conversion into the final required results. It will also be discussed the implicit theoretical errors that each method presents. Secondly, it will be described the actual applied measuring proceedings and the complete exposition of the field collected data, plus photos and sketches. Then it will be presented all the lunar related parameters corresponding to the same moments as when the measures were obtained, basically taken from the internet. After that, through the application of the proper formulae to each observational measure and the corresponding related parameters, it will be found out the required lunar features sizes and heights. Later the obtained final values will be compared to the actual values, analyzing the possible reasons of the differences, and suggesting improvements and special cares in the experimental application of the performed proceedings. Finally, an overall conclusion and the complete list of all the involved references will end this project report. 1) Theoretical considerations a) Measuring lunar surface sizes In order to measure the size of lunar features by telescopic observation from the Earth, it is necessary to firstly obtain some direct value related with its size and secondly apply the corresponding calculation that converts it into the desired actual length. -
Water on the Moon, III. Volatiles & Activity
Water on The Moon, III. Volatiles & Activity Arlin Crotts (Columbia University) For centuries some scientists have argued that there is activity on the Moon (or water, as recounted in Parts I & II), while others have thought the Moon is simply a dead, inactive world. [1] The question comes in several forms: is there a detectable atmosphere? Does the surface of the Moon change? What causes interior seismic activity? From a more modern viewpoint, we now know that as much carbon monoxide as water was excavated during the LCROSS impact, as detailed in Part I, and a comparable amount of other volatiles were found. At one time the Moon outgassed prodigious amounts of water and hydrogen in volcanic fire fountains, but released similar amounts of volatile sulfur (or SO2), and presumably large amounts of carbon dioxide or monoxide, if theory is to be believed. So water on the Moon is associated with other gases. Astronomers have agreed for centuries that there is no firm evidence for “weather” on the Moon visible from Earth, and little evidence of thick atmosphere. [2] How would one detect the Moon’s atmosphere from Earth? An obvious means is atmospheric refraction. As you watch the Sun set, its image is displaced by Earth’s atmospheric refraction at the horizon from the position it would have if there were no atmosphere, by roughly 0.6 degree (a bit more than the Sun’s angular diameter). On the Moon, any atmosphere would cause an analogous effect for a star passing behind the Moon during an occultation (multiplied by two since the light travels both into and out of the lunar atmosphere). -
Glossary of Lunar Terminology
Glossary of Lunar Terminology albedo A measure of the reflectivity of the Moon's gabbro A coarse crystalline rock, often found in the visible surface. The Moon's albedo averages 0.07, which lunar highlands, containing plagioclase and pyroxene. means that its surface reflects, on average, 7% of the Anorthositic gabbros contain 65-78% calcium feldspar. light falling on it. gardening The process by which the Moon's surface is anorthosite A coarse-grained rock, largely composed of mixed with deeper layers, mainly as a result of meteor calcium feldspar, common on the Moon. itic bombardment. basalt A type of fine-grained volcanic rock containing ghost crater (ruined crater) The faint outline that remains the minerals pyroxene and plagioclase (calcium of a lunar crater that has been largely erased by some feldspar). Mare basalts are rich in iron and titanium, later action, usually lava flooding. while highland basalts are high in aluminum. glacis A gently sloping bank; an old term for the outer breccia A rock composed of a matrix oflarger, angular slope of a crater's walls. stony fragments and a finer, binding component. graben A sunken area between faults. caldera A type of volcanic crater formed primarily by a highlands The Moon's lighter-colored regions, which sinking of its floor rather than by the ejection of lava. are higher than their surroundings and thus not central peak A mountainous landform at or near the covered by dark lavas. Most highland features are the center of certain lunar craters, possibly formed by an rims or central peaks of impact sites. -
Tectonic Evolution of Northwestern Imbrium of the Moon That Lasted In
Daket et al. Earth, Planets and Space (2016) 68:157 DOI 10.1186/s40623-016-0531-0 FULL PAPER Open Access Tectonic evolution of northwestern Imbrium of the Moon that lasted in the Copernican Period Yuko Daket1* , Atsushi Yamaji1, Katsushi Sato1, Junichi Haruyama2, Tomokatsu Morota3, Makiko Ohtake2 and Tsuneo Matsunaga4 Abstract The formation ages of tectonic structures and their spatial distributions were studied in the northwestern Imbrium and Sinus Iridum regions using images obtained by Terrain Camera and Multiband Imager on board the SELENE spacecraft and the images obtained by Narrow Angle Camera on board LRO. The formation ages of mare ridges are constrained by the depositional ages of mare basalts, which are either deformed or dammed by the ridges. For this purpose, we defined stratigraphic units and determined their depositional ages by crater counting. The degradation levels of craters dislocated by tectonic structures were also used to determine the youngest limits of the ages of the tectonic activities. As a result, it was found that the contractions to form mare ridges lasted long after the deposition of the majority of the mare basalts. There are mare ridges that were tectonically active even in the Copernican Period. Those young structures are inconsistent with the mascon tectonics hypothesis, which attributes tectonic deforma- tions to the subsidence of voluminous basaltic fills. The global cooling or the cooling of the Procellarum KREEP Ter- rane region seems to be responsible for them. In addition, we found a graben that was active after the Eratosthenian Period. It suggests that the global or regional cooling has a stress level low enough to allow the local extensional tectonics. -
Master's Thesis
2009:106 MASTER'S THESIS Design a Nano-Satellite for Observation of Transient Lunar Phenomena(TLP) Bao Han Luleå University of Technology Master Thesis, Continuation Courses Space Science and Technology Department of Space Science, Kiruna 2009:106 - ISSN: 1653-0187 - ISRN: LTU-PB-EX--09/106--SE Design a Nano-Satellite for Observation of Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLP) SpaceMaster Thesis I Students: Bao Han Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hakan Kayal Date of Submission: 24 Sep 2009 II DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by other person or material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of other degree or diploma of university or other institute of high learning, except due acknowledgment has been made in the text. Würzburg, the 20th, September, 2009 _______________________ (Bao Han) III ACKNOWLEGMENT I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis. First I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hakan Kayal for providing me the possibility to do a very interesting and changeling master thesis by contributing to the Nano-Satellite project and his stimulating suggestions and encouragement helped me in all the time of research for and writing of this thesis. This thesis work allowed me to have a good insight in the Nano-satellite project while gaining many satellite system design experience in many fields. I have furthermore to thank the Prof. Klaus Schilling, the chair of the computer science VII department, who encouraged me to go ahead with my thesis. -
Facts & Features Lunar Surface Elevations Six Apollo Lunar
Greek Mythology Quadrants Maria & Related Features Lunar Surface Elevations Facts & Features Selene is the Moon and 12 234 the goddess of the Moon, 32 Diameter: 2,160 miles which is 27.3% of Earth’s equatorial diameter of 7,926 miles 260 Lacus daughter of the titans 71 13 113 Mare Frigoris Mare Humboldtianum Volume: 2.03% of Earth’s volume; 49 Moons would fit inside Earth 51 103 Mortis Hyperion and Theia. Her 282 44 II I Sinus Iridum 167 125 321 Lacus Somniorum Near Side Mass: 1.62 x 1023 pounds; 1.23% of Earth’s mass sister Eos is the goddess 329 18 299 Sinus Roris Surface Area: 7.4% of Earth’s surface area of dawn and her brother 173 Mare Imbrium Mare Serenitatis 85 279 133 3 3 3 Helios is the Sun. Selene 291 Palus Mare Crisium Average Density: 3.34 gm/cm (water is 1.00 gm/cm ). Earth’s density is 5.52 gm/cm 55 270 112 is often pictured with a 156 Putredinis Color-coded elevation maps Gravity: 0.165 times the gravity of Earth 224 22 237 III IV cresent Moon on her head. 126 Mare Marginis of the Moon. The difference in 41 Mare Undarum Escape Velocity: 1.5 miles/sec; 5,369 miles/hour Selenology, the modern-day 229 Oceanus elevation from the lowest to 62 162 25 Procellarum Mare Smythii Distances from Earth (measured from the centers of both bodies): Average: 238,856 term used for the study 310 116 223 the highest point is 11 miles. -
UHM-PRPDC-0102 PR Set: 2019-05 Image Title: on and Around Mons
UHM-PRPDC-0102 PR Set: 2019-05 Image Title: On and Around Mons Piton, the Moon Original Source: NASA/GSFC/ASU Image Released: 2019-05-09 Instruments: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Image Number: M190609650LR Mons Piton was one of many peaks in the inner mountain ring of the Imbrium basin. It likely stood as high as five kilometers above the basin floor. Between about 3.7 and 2.5 billion years ago, however, volcanic eruptions gradually filled in the Imbrium basin. Lava submerged most of the mountain ring of which Mons Piton was a part. Mons Piton now stands up to 2.3 kilometers above Mare Imbrium. Other fragments of that lost mountain ring survive: they include Mons Pico, Montes Teneriffe, and Montes Recti, all located west of Mons Piton. Here we see the southern part of Mons Piton, which rises ~2,300 m above the dark volcanic rocks of Mare Imbrium. As in most images of the lunar surface, impact craters large and small pock the landscape. Many are degraded. A steady rain of micrometeoroids chips away at boulders and crater rims, gradually turning fresh craters into nondescript depressions. In addition, shaking caused by impacts and moonquakes gradually fills in craters. Mons Piton has fewer obvious craters than the surrounding plain because mountain slopes tend to be less stable than flat terrain. This means that some crater-erasing degradation processes — specifically, gradual slumping and sudden landslides — are more efficient and thus occur more often than on the plains. . -
James Hutton's Reputation Among Geologists in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
The Geological Society of America Memoir 216 Revising the Revisions: James Hutton’s Reputation among Geologists in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries A. M. Celâl Şengör* İTÜ Avrasya Yerbilimleri Enstitüsü ve Maden Fakültesi, Jeoloji Bölümü, Ayazağa 34469 İstanbul, Turkey ABSTRACT A recent fad in the historiography of geology is to consider the Scottish polymath James Hutton’s Theory of the Earth the last of the “theories of the earth” genre of publications that had begun developing in the seventeenth century and to regard it as something behind the times already in the late eighteenth century and which was subsequently remembered only because some later geologists, particularly Hutton’s countryman Sir Archibald Geikie, found it convenient to represent it as a precursor of the prevailing opinions of the day. By contrast, the available documentation, pub- lished and unpublished, shows that Hutton’s theory was considered as something completely new by his contemporaries, very different from anything that preceded it, whether they agreed with him or not, and that it was widely discussed both in his own country and abroad—from St. Petersburg through Europe to New York. By the end of the third decade in the nineteenth century, many very respectable geologists began seeing in him “the father of modern geology” even before Sir Archibald was born (in 1835). Before long, even popular books on geology and general encyclopedias began spreading the same conviction. A review of the geological literature of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries shows that Hutton was not only remembered, but his ideas were in fact considered part of the current science and discussed accord- ingly. -
Communications of the LUNAR and PLANETARY LABORATORY
Communications of the LUNAR AND PLANETARY LABORATORY Number 70 Volume 5 Part 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1966 Communications of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory These Communications contain the shorter publications and reports by the staff of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. They may be either original contributions, reprints of articles published in professional journals, preliminary reports, or announcements. Tabular material too bulky or specialized for regular journals is included if future use of such material appears to warrant it. The Communications are issued as separate numbers, but they are paged and indexed by volumes. The Communications are mailed to observatories and to laboratories known to be engaged in planetary, interplanetary or geophysical research in exchange for their reports and publica- tions. The University of Arizona Press can supply at cost copies to other libraries and interested persons. The University of Arizona GERARD P. KUIPER, Director Tucson, Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Published with the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Library of Congress Catalog Number 62-63619 NO. 70 THE SYSTEM OF LUNAR CRATERS, QUADRANT IV by D. W. G. ARTHUR, RUTH H. PELLICORI, AND C. A. WOOD May25,1966 , ABSTRACT The designation, diameter, position, central peak information, and state of completeness are listed for each discernible crater with a diameter exceeding 3.5 km in the fourth lunar quadrant. The catalog contains about 8,000 items and is illustrated by a map in 11 sections. hiS Communication is the fourth and final part of listed in the catalog nor shown in the accompanying e System of Lunar Craters, which is a_calalag maps.