Table of Contents

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Table of Contents PAGE: 1 PAGE: 2 Table of Contents LEXILE® MEASURE 3 Copernicus, King of Craters 870L 4 Catching Andromeda’s Light 890L 6 Merry Christmas from the Moon! 810L ©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of charge for classroom use by printing or photocopying one copy for each student in the class. Highlights® Fun with a Purpose® ISBN 978-1-62091-227-0 PAGE: 32 object—either a rocky asteroid or an icy comet—was more than a mile in diameter. Still, there are larger craters on the Moon, so why is Copernicus special? The answer is simple: because the crater faces Earth directly, it looks nice and round, exactly the way everyone thinks a crater should look. But what really makes Coper- nicus special is its halo of rays. These wispy streamers stretch outward in every direction. Like the crater itself, they are brightest when the Moon is full. Take a close look at these feather-like Copernicus splashes. When a big object blasts out a crater, the smallest particles travel farthest from the point of impact. This spray of rock then falls in a splash pattern onto the lunar surface. This material looks bright because it’s made up of crushed and broken rock, which Copernicus, King of Craters By Edmund A. Fortier On the Moon, this crater rules. The best-known impact crater on to the left of the Moon’s center. reflects light better than the dust- Earth is Meteor Crater. It is You’ll see a small bright spot covered lava plain. nearly a mile across and about 550 against the gray. That’s Over long periods of time, feet deep. To see it, you would have Copernicus. the constant bombardment by to drive far out into the desert in Since the Moon doesn’t have an meteoroids darkens the rays and Arizona. atmosphere to protect it as Earth mixes them with the surface dust. The Moon’s best-known meteor has, tiny grains of space debris Eventually the rays disappear. crater is Copernicus. It is 58 miles called meteoroids collide with the Copernicus’s rays are still bright in diameter and more than 2 miles Moon constantly. This meteoroid because this crater is young. It’s from top to bottom. To see “rain” wears down the lunar only 810 million (810,000,000) it, you just have to step outside surface, creating a layer of dust. years old. Many other large and look at the Moon through Meteoroids the size of rocks and craters are nearly 4 billion binoculars. boulders strike the Moon less (4,000,000,000) years old. You may have already noticed often, but they are more powerful. The crater is named after that the Moon’s surface is a mix of These rocks can produce craters the great astronomer Nicolaus bright and gray areas. The gray measuring anywhere from a few Copernicus. In the 1800s, another areas are lava plains. The largest feet to several miles across. On astronomer studied this scar on and darkest lava plains are found rare occasions, the Moon is hit by the Moon’s surface. He called it along the left-hand side of the an object the size of the one that “the Monarch of the Moon.” Today, Moon. Using binoculars, look just carved out Copernicus. That we can call it the king of craters. ©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of charge for classroom use by printing or photocopying one copy for each student in the class. Highlights® Fun with a Purpose® Photo courtesy of NASA ISBN 978-1-62091-119-8 PAGE: 32 Catching Andromeda’s By Ken Croswell, Ph.D. Photo by Robert Gendler Light The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest giant galaxy to our own. By observing Andromeda, astronomers have learned a lot M32 about our Galaxy, the Milky Way. A Spiral Galaxy Spiral arms In 1887, Isaac Roberts, an astronomer in Wales, discovered that Andromeda is a Andromeda’s spiral arms arise because the galaxy is spinning. AppearingGiant above and spiral galaxy—the most below Andromeda are two smaller galaxies, which are orbiting around it. beautiful type. He black hole made his discovery by photographing the galaxy. Unlike the eye, photographs A galaxy is a can collect dim light huge collection for hours. Then they of stars, gas, show faint things and dust that that the eye can’t are held close to Andromeda’s spiral see. one another by arms, he thought they What about the might also trace the Milky Way Galaxy? gravity. Milky Way’s spiral The stars of Andromeda People wondered arms. So in 1951, even reveal how far away the whether it was a spiral, too. But Morgan mapped the locations of galaxy is. It works like this. they couldn’t tell. We live in the all the red clouds of gas he and Astronomers observe a type Milky Way, so we can’t see it from his colleagues could find. He of star in Andromeda. Then the outside. discovered that the gas clouds they compare the star with the Astronomers counted the lined up along spiral arms, same type of star in the Milky Milky Way’s stars in different indicating that we live in a spiral Way. The fainter the star in directions. They hoped to see a galaxy. Andromeda looks, the farther spiral pattern. But they didn’t Why do red clouds of gas trace away Andromeda must be. succeed. the spiral arms? It’s because It’s like seeing a distant Fortunately, the Andromeda spiral arms give birth to stars. streetlight. By comparing its Galaxy helped. Walter Baade, The brightest newborn stars faintness with the streetlight an astronomer in America, took are hot and blue, so spiral arms in front of your home, you can a photograph that showed red are blue. The blue stars give off estimate how far the distant clouds of gas that lined up with ultraviolet radiation—light waves streetlight is. Andromeda’s spiral arms. that are shorter than your eye can Andromeda is 2.5 million Another astronomer in see. This ultraviolet light carries (2,500,000) light-years away. America, William Morgan, saw lots of energy and makes gas glow One light-year is a long way: that photograph and had an idea. red. So, strangely enough, gas can it’s the distance light travels Since red clouds of gas trace turn red when it’s near blue stars. in a year, about 5.88 trillion ©Highlights for Children, Inc. This item is permitted to be used by a teacher or educator free of charge for classroom use by printing or photocopying one copy for each student in the class. Highlights® Fun with a Purpose® ISBN 978-1-62091-118-1 PAGE: 33 larger than M32, is called NGC 205. Big Black Holes Andromeda and the Milky Way have even more in common. Each Spiral arm galaxy has a giant black hole at its center. A black hole is an object with so much mass and gravity that nothing can escape it—not even light, the fastest thing in the universe. Astronomers discovered Andromeda’s black hole after they saw that the stars and gas near NGC 205 the galaxy’s center move fast. Why so fast? The Earth moves fast around the Sun. But if the Sun had much more mass than it does, the Earth would move much faster. So the very high speed of the The giant galaxy stars and gas near Andromeda’s center means there must be next door is a lot miles from Earth. so much mass that it’s a black The Andromeda Galaxy is like ours. hole! Astronomers calculate that Andromeda’s central black hole has 140 million times more mass than the Sun. The black hole at the center of 15,000,000,000,000,000,000 the Milky Way is smaller—only 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Just as the Earth goes around the Sun, the Sun goes around the Milky Way’s big black hole. (5,880,000,000,000) miles. Galactic Empires But don’t worry: the black hole is So the Andromeda Galaxy Both Andromeda and the Milky 27,000 light-years away. Plus, the is about 15 quintillion Way are giant spiral galaxies. Sun moves half a million miles per (15,000,000,000,000,000,000) miles Each galaxy is so large that many hour—so fast that it won’t fall into from Earth. other galaxies go around it, just the black hole. All other stars in Believe it or not, that’s not as the Moon goes around the Earth. the Milky Way also move around very far—at least, as galaxies We call these smaller galaxies the black hole at the Galaxy’s go. Andromeda is so close that “satellite galaxies,” for center. it is part of the Local Group of the same reason we call the Moon Likewise, all the stars in the galaxies. a satellite of the Earth. Andromeda Galaxy move around The Local Group has dozens The photograph here shows two its central black hole. Perhaps of galaxies. Andromeda is the of Andromeda’s satellite galaxies. some of those stars have planets brightest one in the Local Group. The round one that appears above with intelligent beings who have Our Galaxy, the Milky Way, ranks Andromeda’s disk is called M32. learned a lot about their galaxy— number two.
Recommended publications
  • SPHERE: the Exoplanet Imager for the Very Large Telescope J.-L
    Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. paper c ESO 2019 October 4, 2019 SPHERE: the exoplanet imager for the Very Large Telescope J.-L. Beuzit1; 2, A. Vigan2, D. Mouillet1, K. Dohlen2, R. Gratton3, A. Boccaletti4, J.-F. Sauvage2; 7, H. M. Schmid5, M. Langlois2; 8, C. Petit7, A. Baruffolo3, M. Feldt6, J. Milli13, Z. Wahhaj13, L. Abe11, U. Anselmi3, J. Antichi3, R. Barette2, J. Baudrand4, P. Baudoz4, A. Bazzon5, P. Bernardi4, P. Blanchard2, R. Brast12, P. Bruno18, T. Buey4, M. Carbillet11, M. Carle2, E. Cascone17, F. Chapron4, J. Charton1, G. Chauvin1; 23, R. Claudi3, A. Costille2, V. De Caprio17, J. de Boer9, A. Delboulbé1, S. Desidera3, C. Dominik15, M. Downing12, O. Dupuis4, C. Fabron2, D. Fantinel3, G. Farisato3, P. Feautrier1, E. Fedrigo12, T. Fusco7; 2, P. Gigan4, C. Ginski15; 9, J. Girard1; 14, E. Giro19, D. Gisler5, L. Gluck1, C. Gry2, T. Henning6, N. Hubin12, E. Hugot2, S. Incorvaia19, M. Jaquet2, M. Kasper12, E. Lagadec11, A.-M. Lagrange1, H. Le Coroller2, D. Le Mignant2, B. Le Ruyet4, G. Lessio3, J.-L. Lizon12, M. Llored2, L. Lundin12, F. Madec2, Y. Magnard1, M. Marteaud4, P. Martinez11, D. Maurel1, F. Ménard1, D. Mesa3, O. Möller-Nilsson6, T. Moulin1, C. Moutou2, A. Origné2, J. Parisot4, A. Pavlov6, D. Perret4, J. Pragt16, P. Puget1, P. Rabou1, J. Ramos6, J.-M. Reess4, F. Rigal16, S. Rochat1, R. Roelfsema16, G. Rousset4, A. Roux1, M. Saisse2, B. Salasnich3, E. Santambrogio19, S. Scuderi18, D. Segransan10, A. Sevin4, R. Siebenmorgen12 C. Soenke12, E. Stadler1, M. Suarez12, D. Tiphène4, M. Turatto3, S. Udry10, F. Vakili11, L. B. F. M. Waters20; 15, L.
    [Show full text]
  • USGS Open-File Report 2005-1190, Table 1
    TABLE 1 GEOLOGIC FIELD-TRAINING OF NASA ASTRONAUTS BETWEEN JANUARY 1963 AND NOVEMBER 1972 The following is a year-by-year listing of the astronaut geologic field training trips planned and led by personnel from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Branches of Astrogeology and Surface Planetary Exploration, in collaboration with the Geology Group at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas at the request of NASA between January 1963 and November 1972. Regional geologic experts from the U.S. Geological Survey and other governmental organizations and universities s also played vital roles in these exercises. [The early training (between 1963 and 1967) involved a rather large contingent of astronauts from NASA groups 1, 2, and 3. For another listing of the astronaut geologic training trips and exercises, including all attending and the general purposed of the exercise, the reader is referred to the following website containing a contribution by William Phinney (Phinney, book submitted to NASA/JSC; also http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/ap-geotrips.pdf).] 1963 16-18 January 1963: Meteor Crater and San Francisco Volcanic Field near Flagstaff, Arizona (9 astronauts). Among the nine astronaut trainees in Flagstaff for that initial astronaut geologic training exercise was Neil Armstrong--who would become the first man to step foot on the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission in July 1969! The other astronauts present included Frank Borman (Apollo 8), Charles "Pete" Conrad (Apollo 12), James Lovell (Apollo 8 and the near-tragic Apollo 13), James McDivitt, Elliot See (killed later in a plane crash), Thomas Stafford (Apollo 10), Edward White (later killed in the tragic Apollo 1 fire at Cape Canaveral), and John Young (Apollo 16).
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • PEANUTS and SPACE FOUNDATION Apollo and Beyond
    Reproducible Master PEANUTS and SPACE FOUNDATION Apollo and Beyond GRADE 4 – 5 OBJECTIVES PAGE 1 Students will: ö Read Snoopy, First Beagle on the Moon! and Shoot for the Moon, Snoopy! ö Learn facts about the Apollo Moon missions. ö Use this information to complete a fill-in-the-blank fact worksheet. ö Create mission objectives for a brand new mission to the moon. SUGGESTED GRADE LEVELS 4 – 5 SUBJECT AREAS Space Science, History TIMELINE 30 – 45 minutes NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS ö 5-ESS1 ESS1.B Earth and the Solar System ö 3-5-ETS1 ETS1.B Developing Possible Solutions 21st CENTURY ESSENTIAL SKILLS Collaboration and Teamwork, Communication, Information Literacy, Flexibility, Leadership, Initiative, Organizing Concepts, Obtaining/Evaluating/Communicating Ideas BACKGROUND ö According to NASA.gov, NASA has proudly shared an association with Charles M. Schulz and his American icon Snoopy since Apollo missions began in the 1960s. Schulz created comic strips depicting Snoopy on the Moon, capturing public excitement about America’s achievements in space. In May 1969, Apollo 10 astronauts traveled to the Moon for a final trial run before the lunar landings took place on later missions. Because that mission required the lunar module to skim within 50,000 feet of the Moon’s surface and “snoop around” to determine the landing site for Apollo 11, the crew named the lunar module Snoopy. The command module was named Charlie Brown, after Snoopy’s loyal owner. These books are a united effort between Peanuts Worldwide, NASA and Simon & Schuster to generate interest in space among today’s younger children.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Office of Public Relations -More
    MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. News Office (AC0069) From the Office of Public Relations Massachusetts Institute of Technology FOR RELEASE TO A.M. NEWSPAPERS Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 OF SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1969 Telephone: 864-6900, extension 2701 Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr. , navigator on the Apollo 8 flight to the moon, will be in Cambridge Thursday (February 13) to address students and staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where the Apollo guidance system was developed. Appearing with the astronaut will be Mr. Christopher C. Kraft, who, as director of flight operations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Space- craft Center at Houston, Tex., is the chief ground controller for all manned space flights. Astronaut Lovell, who is a captain in the U.S. Navy, and Mr. Kraft will be at M.I.T. Thursday to take part in a special Apollo convocation for M.I.T. students and staff. The convocation will be at M.I. T.'s Kresge Auditorium from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p. m. M.I. T. President Howard Johnson will preside at the convocation. Other convoca- tion speakers will be Dr. Charles Stark Draper, founder and director of the M. I. T. Instru- mentation Laboratory which is responsible for the Apollo guidance work, and Mr. David G Hoag, an associate director of the Laboratory who directs the Laboratory's Apollo work. Captain Lovell will illustrate his talk with color slides and color motion pictures which he and the other members of the Apollo 8 crew - - Col.
    [Show full text]
  • How Supernovae Became the Basis of Observational Cosmology
    Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 19(2), 203–215 (2016). HOW SUPERNOVAE BECAME THE BASIS OF OBSERVATIONAL COSMOLOGY Maria Victorovna Pruzhinskaya Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire, Université Clermont Auvergne, Université Blaise Pascal, CNRS/IN2P3, Clermont-Ferrand, France; and Sternberg Astronomical Institute of Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Universitetsky prospect 13, Russia. Email: [email protected] and Sergey Mikhailovich Lisakov Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Université Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Boulevard de l'Observatoire, CS 34229, Nice, France. Email: [email protected] Abstract: This paper is dedicated to the discovery of one of the most important relationships in supernova cosmology—the relation between the peak luminosity of Type Ia supernovae and their luminosity decline rate after maximum light. The history of this relationship is quite long and interesting. The relationship was independently discovered by the American statistician and astronomer Bert Woodard Rust and the Soviet astronomer Yury Pavlovich Pskovskii in the 1970s. Using a limited sample of Type I supernovae they were able to show that the brighter the supernova is, the slower its luminosity declines after maximum. Only with the appearance of CCD cameras could Mark Phillips re-inspect this relationship on a new level of accuracy using a better sample of supernovae. His investigations confirmed the idea proposed earlier by Rust and Pskovskii. Keywords: supernovae, Pskovskii, Rust 1 INTRODUCTION However, from the moment that Albert Einstein (1879–1955; Whittaker, 1955) introduced into the In 1998–1999 astronomers discovered the accel- equations of the General Theory of Relativity a erating expansion of the Universe through the cosmological constant until the discovery of the observations of very far standard candles (for accelerating expansion of the Universe, nearly a review see Lipunov and Chernin, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections December 2020
    Surviving the Bobcat Fire By Robert Anderson As recently as December 9, our solar astronomer, Steve Padilla, was taking his evening walk and noticed the smoke of a hotspot flaring up in the canyon just below the Observatory. It was a remnant of the Bobcat Fire, which started nearby on September 6. The local Angeles National Forest firefighters were notified of the flareup, either to monitor it or extinguish it if needed. They have returned many times during the last three months. And we are always glad to see them, especially those individuals who put water to flame here and battled to save the most productive and famous observatory in history. On the sunny Labor Day weekend, when the Bobcat Fire started near Cogswell Reservoir in a canyon east of the Mount Wilson, the Observatory’s maintenance staff went on cautious alert. As the fire spread out of control, it stayed to the east burning north and south of the reservoir for days, threatening communities in the foothills of the San Gabriels. Nevertheless, all non-essential staff and residents were evacuated off the mountain just in case. Under a surreal, smoke-filled September sky, crews David Cendejas, the superintendent of the Observatory, prepare to defend the Observatory. Photo: D. Cendejas and a skeleton crew of CHARA staff, stayed to monitor the situation and to secure the grounds. Routine year- round maintenance of Mount Wilson always includes In this issue . clearing a wide perimeter of combustibles from the buildings, but when a large fire is burning nearby, clearing Surviving the Fire ……………1 Betelgeuse & Baade …………….5 anything that has been missed becomes an urgent priority, News + Notes .….………………2 Thanks to our Supporters! ..….7 along with double-checking all the fire equipment.
    [Show full text]
  • Apollo Over the Moon: a View from Orbit (Nasa Sp-362)
    chl APOLLO OVER THE MOON: A VIEW FROM ORBIT (NASA SP-362) Chapter 1 - Introduction Harold Masursky, Farouk El-Baz, Frederick J. Doyle, and Leon J. Kosofsky [For a high resolution picture- click here] Objectives [1] Photography of the lunar surface was considered an important goal of the Apollo program by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The important objectives of Apollo photography were (1) to gather data pertaining to the topography and specific landmarks along the approach paths to the early Apollo landing sites; (2) to obtain high-resolution photographs of the landing sites and surrounding areas to plan lunar surface exploration, and to provide a basis for extrapolating the concentrated observations at the landing sites to nearby areas; and (3) to obtain photographs suitable for regional studies of the lunar geologic environment and the processes that act upon it. Through study of the photographs and all other arrays of information gathered by the Apollo and earlier lunar programs, we may develop an understanding of the evolution of the lunar crust. In this introductory chapter we describe how the Apollo photographic systems were selected and used; how the photographic mission plans were formulated and conducted; how part of the great mass of data is being analyzed and published; and, finally, we describe some of the scientific results. Historically most lunar atlases have used photointerpretive techniques to discuss the possible origins of the Moon's crust and its surface features. The ideas presented in this volume also rely on photointerpretation. However, many ideas are substantiated or expanded by information obtained from the huge arrays of supporting data gathered by Earth-based and orbital sensors, from experiments deployed on the lunar surface, and from studies made of the returned samples.
    [Show full text]
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
    THE DECADE OF DISCOVERY IN ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee Board on Physics and Astronomy Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1991 NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS • 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW • Washington, DC 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special compe_nces and with regard for appropriate balance. This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. This project was supported by the Department of Energy under Grant No. DE-FGO5- 89ER40421, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-8901685, the Naval Research Laboratory under Contract No. N00173-90-M-9744, and the Smithsonian Institution under Purchase Order No. SF0022430000. Additional support was provided by the Maurice Ewing Earth and Planetary Sciences Fund of the National Academy of Sciences created through a gift from the Palisades Geophysical Institute, Inc., and an anonymous donor. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data National Research Council (U.S.). Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee. The decade of discovery in astronomy and astrophysics / Astronomy and Astrophysics Survey Committee, Board on Physics and Astronomy, Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications, National Research Council.
    [Show full text]
  • The Composition of the Lunar Crust: Radiative Transfer Modeling and Analysis of Lunar Visible and Near-Infrared Spectra
    THE COMPOSITION OF THE LUNAR CRUST: RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODELING AND ANALYSIS OF LUNAR VISIBLE AND NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS DECEMBER 2009 By Joshua T.S. Cahill Dissertation Committee: Paul G. Lucey, Chairperson G. Jeffrey Taylor Patricia Fryer Jeffrey J. Gillis-Davis Trevor Sorensen Student: Joshua T.S. Cahill Student ID#: 1565-1460 Field: Geology and Geophysics Graduation date: December 2009 Title: The Composition of the Lunar Crust: Radiative Transfer Modeling and Analysis of Lunar Visible and Near-Infrared Spectra We certify that we have read this dissertation and that, in our opinion, it is satisfactory in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geology and Geophysics. Dissertation Committee: Names Signatures Paul G. Lucey, Chairperson ____________________________ G. Jeffrey Taylor ____________________________ Jeffrey J. Gillis-Davis ____________________________ Patricia Fryer ____________________________ Trevor Sorensen ____________________________ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must first express my love and appreciation to my family. Thank you to my wife Karen for providing love, support, and perspective. And to our little girl Maggie who only recently became part of our family and has already provided priceless memories in the form of beautiful smiles, belly laughs, and little bear hugs. The two of you provided me with the most meaningful reasons to push towards the "finish line". I would also like to thank my immediate and extended family. Many of them do not fully understand much about what I do, but support the endeavor acknowledging that if it is something I’m willing to put this much effort into, it must be worthwhile.
    [Show full text]
  • Lunar Craters Named in Honor of Apollo 8 5 October 2018
    Lunar craters named in honor of Apollo 8 5 October 2018 The Apollo 8 mission took place from 21 to 27 December 1968. After completing 10 orbits around the Moon on Christmas Eve, broadcasting images back to Earth and giving live television transmissions, the crew returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean. The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) of the International Astronomical Union, who named the craters, is the authority responsible for the naming of planetary features in our Solar System. The two named craters were previously designated by letters. The Earthrise color photograph taken by astronaut William Anders. It depicts the moment that our shiny blue Earth came back into view as the spacecraft emerged out of the dark from behind the grey and barren Moon. This is arguably the most famous picture taken by Apollo 8. It became iconic and has been credited with starting the environmental movement.Two of the crates seen in this photo have just been named by the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) of the International Astronomical Union. Credit: NASA/IAU The newly named craters are visible in the The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature foreground of the iconic Earthrise colour of the International Astronomical Union has officially photograph taken by astronaut William Anders. It approved the naming of two craters on the Moon to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 depicts the moment that our shiny blue Earth came mission. The names are Anders’ Earthrise and 8 back into view as the spacecraft emerged out of Homeward.
    [Show full text]
  • Physicists Look to a New Telescope to Understand Neutron Stars and Matter at the Extremes INNER WORKINGS
    Correction INNER WORKINGS Correction for “Inner Workings: Physicists look to a new tele- scope to understand neutron stars and matter at the extremes,” by Stephen Ornes, which was first published November 4, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.2021447117 (Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A.117, 29249–29252). The editors note that ref. 5 appeared incorrectly. It should instead appear as below. The online version has been corrected. 5. E. Annala, T. Gorda, A. Kurkela, J. Nättilä, A. Vuorinen, Evidence for quark-matter cores in massive neutron stars. Nat. Phys. 16, 907–910 (2020). Published under the PNAS license. First published December 21, 2020. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024053117 CORRECTION www.pnas.org PNAS | December 29, 2020 | vol. 117 | no. 52 | 33719 Downloaded by guest on October 2, 2021 INNER WORKINGS Physicists look to a new telescope to understand neutron stars and matter at the extremes INNER WORKINGS Stephen Ornes, Science Writer Astronomers ostensibly know plenty about neutron matter at such high densities has long been a puzzle,” stars: the hot, collapsed remnants of massive stars says Arzoumanian. Now a small, boxy X-ray telescope that have exploded as supernovae. These objects mounted on the International Space Station is spilling can spin up to hundreds of times a second, generate the inner secrets of these stars. Called the Neutron intense magnetic fields, and send out jets of radia- Star Interior Composition Explorer, or NICER, it can tion that sweep the sky like beams from a lighthouse. measure the size and mass of neutron stars, revealing When two neutron stars collide, the ripples in space- their true density.
    [Show full text]