January 2006 Newsletter

Stockton Astronomical Society

Valley Skies

Valley Skies - January 2006 Issue

Editor's Corner...

Something Old, Something New

On January 21st the new monument to George Madeira's first California astronomical observatory will be dedicated at a formal ceremony in the little town of Volcano. This culminates a fourteen-year effort to rectify errors associated with the original monument erected in 1968.

In researching the history of George Madeira and of the 1968 monument dedication, Marshal Merriam came across the document which follows. This is the text of Clarence Custer's "talk at the dedication ceremony" in 1968. Even as the original monument was being dedicated, Dr. Custer acknowledged the uncertainty about the actual location of Madeira's observatory.

Mrs. Muriel Thebaut, mentioned in Custer's talk, is still alive and well, but it is not known whether she will attend the ceremony on January 21. The Thebaut's family home is still in Volcano.

(See Marshal Merriam's article on page 8 of the newsletter for full details of the January 21 event).

...Trevor Atkinson

The Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center sponsors the Science@NASA web sites. The mission of Science@NASA is to help the public understand how exciting NASA research is and to help NASA scientists fulfill their outreach responsibilities.

Moon Storms

An old Apollo experiment is telling researchers something new and surprising about the moon.

December 7, 2005: Every lunar morning, when the sun first peeks over the dusty soil of the moon after two weeks of frigid lunar night, a strange storm stirs the surface.

The next time you see the moon, trace your finger along the terminator, the dividing line between lunar night and day. That's where the storm is. It's a long and skinny dust storm, stretching all the way from the north pole to the south pole, swirling across the surface, following the terminator as sunrise ceaselessly sweeps around the moon.

Never heard of it? Few have. But scientists are increasingly confident that the storm is real.

The box in the foreground is the Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites Experiment (LEAM)

The evidence comes from an old Apollo experiment called LEAM, short for Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites. "Apollo 17 astronauts installed LEAM on the moon in 1972," explains Timothy Stubbs of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It was designed to look for dust kicked up by small meteoroids hitting the moon's surface."

Billions of years ago, meteoroids hit the moon almost constantly, pulverizing rocks and coating the moon's surface with their dusty debris. Indeed, this is the reason why the moon is so dusty. Today these impacts happen less often, but they still happen.

Apollo-era scientists wanted to know, how much dust is ejected by daily impacts? And what are the properties of that dust? LEAM was to answer these questions using three sensors that could record the speed, energy, and direction of tiny particles: one each pointing up, east, and west.

LEAM's three-decade-old data are so intriguing, they're now being reexamined by several independent groups of NASA and university scientists. Gary Olhoeft, professor of geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, is one of them:

"To everyone's surprise," says Olhoeft, "LEAM saw a large number of particles every morning, mostly coming from the east or west--rather than above or below--and mostly slower than speeds expected for lunar ejecta."

What could cause this? Stubbs has an idea: "The dayside of the moon is positively charged; the nightside is negatively charged." At the interface between night and day, he explains, "electrostatically charged dust would be pushed across the terminator sideways," by horizontal electric fields.

Even more surprising, Olhoeft continues, a few hours after every lunar sunrise, the experiment's temperature rocketed so high--near that of boiling water--that "LEAM had to be turned off because it was overheating."

Those strange observations could mean that "electrically-charged moondust was sticking to LEAM, darkening its surface so the experiment package absorbed rather than reflected sunlight," speculates Olhoeft.

But nobody knows for sure. LEAM operated for a very short time: only 620 hours of data were gathered during the icy lunar night and a mere 150 hours of data from the blazing lunar day before its sensors were turned off and the Apollo program ended.

Astronauts may have seen the storms, too. While orbiting the Moon, the crews of Apollo 8, 10, 12, and 17 sketched "bands" or "twilight rays" where sunlight was apparently filtering through dust above the moon's surface. This happened before each lunar sunrise and just after each lunar sunset. NASA's Surveyor spacecraft also photographed twilight "horizon glows," much like what the astronauts saw.

Dusty "twilight rays" sketched by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972

It's even possible that these storms have been spotted from Earth: For centuries, there have been reports of strange glowing lights on the moon, known as "lunar transient phenomena" or LTPs. Some LTPs have been observed as momentary flashes--now generally accepted to be visible evidence of meteoroids impacting the lunar surface. But others have appeared as amorphous reddish or whitish glows or even as dusky hazy regions that change shape or disappear over seconds or minutes. Early explanations, never satisfactory, ranged from volcanic gases to observers' overactive imaginations (including visiting extraterrestrials).

Now a new scientific explanation is gaining traction. "It may be that LTPs are caused by sunlight reflecting off rising plumes of electrostatically lofted lunar dust," Olhoeft suggests.

All this matters to NASA because, by 2018 or so, astronauts are returning to the Moon. Unlike Apollo astronauts, who never experienced lunar sunrise, the next explorers are going to establish a permanent outpost. They'll be there in the morning when the storm sweeps by.

The wall of dust, if it exists, might be diaphanous, invisible, harmless. Or it could be a real problem, clogging spacesuits, coating surfaces and causing hardware to overheat.

Which will it be? Says Stubbs, "we've still got a lot to learn about the Moon."

Dr.David Dearborn will be the featured speaker at the January 12 Annual Dinner:

The Inca: Children of the Sun

The Inca ruled their empire, as children of the sun god, Inti. Their claim to elite status was reinforced through mythology, and ceremonies involving a system of solar markers around the horizon of Cuzco. The remains of such solar markers have now been found, giving flesh to early Spanish accounts, but many questions remain. This system required the support of other observations. Who made them and how? More importantly, how was this skywatching activity used to support the Inca imperial system?

By 1572 the last legitimate heir to the Inca crown had been executed, and many of the important shrines had been desecrated, or destroyed. A great deal of information on Inca social structure, ceremonial activity, and belief is lost. Still, through ethnohistoric accounts, and archaeological fieldwork, it is possible to piece together the sky watching practices of the Inca, and understand some of its use in organizing their empire.

Dr. David S. P. Dearborn is a graduate of UCLA and the University of Texas at Austin, and has held positions at the Copernicus Institute in Warsaw, the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, The California Institute of Technology, and Steward Observatory in Tucson. He is currently a research physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He was the 1998 Shelby Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, has received two Dudley awards for work in the History of astronomy, and three "Weapons Recognition of Excellence" awards from the DOE, one for laser hohlraum development, another for advances in the analysis of radar data, and a third for work on the W87 Life Extension Program. He was a principal investigator in the development of a 3 dimensional stellar evolution and structure code now being used for astrophysical research.

He has worked extensively in astrophysics (nucleosynthesis, stellar evolution, and astro-particle physics), archaeoastronomy (research on the Inca as well as editing a newsletter and journal), and nuclear weapons design and testing, as well as RV flight testing. He initiated a study into a non-seismic method for detecting clandestine nuclear explosions, and the design of a shuttle experiment. He has taught at the University of Arizona, and UC Berkeley, and participated in a number of educational activities promoting science education in schools and community colleges.

Archaeoastronomy Since 1980, he has spent eight field seasons in Peru (and Bolivia) working to understand the astronomy practices of the Inca. This work culminated in a book written with an archaeologist, Brian Bauer, entitled Astronomy and Empire in the Ancient Andes. Recent discoveries include a set of Inca pillars marking the solar position on the June solstice at the Island of the Sun in Bolivia (Latin American Antiquity, 1998). To do this work, he has received grants from the Center for Field Research, the Tinker Foundation, and two Dudley Awards for studies in the History of Astronomy. He is a full member of the Institute for Andean Studies, a founding member of the International Society for Archaeoastronomy, and Astronomy in Culture (ISAAC). Finally, he is one of four principal editors for the journal Archaeoastronomy, published by the University of Texas Press.

Space Place for Kids

Have you checked out the JPL Space Place Website yet?

If you're an elementary school teacher, a home schooler or just a parent with youngsters, if you haven't introduced those young minds to The Space Place yet, they're missing out on a great source of space-related general knowledge.

Developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, there is a great deal more to The Space Place than the monthly article that is supplied to astronomy club newsletters. (Space limitations and early mailing preclude inclusion of a Space Place article in this issue).

On the "Projects" page...
...make a starfinder and find your favorite constellation.
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/st6starfinder/st6starfinder.shtml

What's the connection between sunspots and a Stradivarius violin?
Find out on the "Amazing Facts" page:
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/amazing_facts.shtml

See how satellites help save animals. Play Migration Concentration:
http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/kids/games.shtml

Listen to Dr. Marc on "Cool Stuff."

There are pages of games, projects, "cool subjects," amazing facts, a teacher's corner and much more. All can be viewed and/or heard in English or Spanish. It's all just waiting for inquisitive minds. Check it out at: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/

MADEIRA MONUMENT TO BE DEDICATED IN VOLCANO

George David Madeira (1836-1922), a miner in Volcano, Amador County, built the first astronomical observatory in California, in 1860. It operated for two years. He used his small telescope, specially ordered from Paris, for a variety of astronomical studies. One of these studies, concerning the relationship between sunspots and the aurora, was published, the first astronomical research report from California.

He also played an important role in bringing Lick Observatory into existence. The observatory in Volcano is commemorated by California State Historical Marker No. 715, a bronze plaque attached to a large stone monument, which was first dedicated in 1968. The Stockton Astronomical Society took a leading role in placing the monument. Unfortunately it was put in the wrong place (by about four miles!) and one of the statements on the plaque, concerning the discovery of a comet, was not quite right either.

Clarence Custer, Founder of the Stockton Society, suspected the location might be wrong. He and Robert Birch, also of the SAS, did careful research, and based on Madeira's own writings concluded that the correct location was in the middle of Volcano, not four miles out of town. After a hearing, the State Historical Resources Board agreed. That was in l991. A new stone monument has been built and a new bronze plaque cast.

The unveiling of the new monument is set for January 21, 2006. This date also is the 84th anniversary of George Madeira's death. This will be a half-day event, commemorating the life of George Madeira, reviewing his achievements as California's first amateur astronomer (at least the first with a telescope), dedicating the monument, and having lunch with a number of George Madeira's descendants, sharing stories and anecdotes. Everyone is invited to attend. Lunch is optional; if you stay for the lunch it will cost $15/person and advance arrangement is required. The lunch will be at the historic St George Hotel in Volcano. They are not normally open for lunch on that day and will only prepare food according to the number of reservations. To make a lunch reservation contact Marshal Merriam [mfmerriam@yahoo.com; 925-778-7496; P.O. Box 2926, Antioch, CA 94531] as soon as possible, and definitely by January 15th.

10:00 Volcano Town Hall: displays, coffee, congeniality
10:30 Volcano Town Hall: "George Madeira-Miner and Astronomer" - talk by Marshal Merriam
11:30 Monument Site: monument unveiling, short speeches
12:30 St George Hotel: lunch (reservations required, see above) stories and anecdotes by descendants

The Town Hall, the monument, and the St George are within walking distance of each other.

To reach Volcano from Stockton, proceed to Jackson on Hwy 88, pass through Jackson, watch for a left turn at a light in order to stay on 88, continue east on 88 to Pine Grove, turn left to Volcano on road marked 'Volcano' and 'Black Chasm'. Allow 90 minutes from Stockton.