Return-path: X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson Received: from hogtown.andrew.cmu.edu via trymail for +dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl@andrew.cmu.edu (->+dist+/afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr11/tm2b/space/space.dl) (->ota+space.digests) ID ; Sun, 23 Jun 91 04:49:23 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <4cN62=i00WBwM4y04w@andrew.cmu.edu> Precedence: junk Reply-To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU From: space-request+@Andrew.CMU.EDU To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU Date: Sun, 23 Jun 91 04:49:16 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SPACE Digest V13 #691 SPACE Digest Volume 13 : Issue 691 Today's Topics: Re: United Space Federation Re: Self-sustaining infrastructures Re: INFO: Clandestine Mars Observer Launch?? INFO: Lunar Transient Phenomena - Paranet File Administrivia: Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to space+@andrew.cmu.edu. Other mail, esp. [un]subscription requests, should be sent to space-request+@andrew.cmu.edu, or, if urgent, to tm2b+@andrew.cmu.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Jun 91 12:11:51 PDT From: greer%utdssa.dnet%utadnx@utspan.span.nasa.gov X-Vmsmail-To: UTADNX::UTSPAN::AMES::"space+@andrew.cmu.edu" Subject: Re: United Space Federation In SPACE Digest V13 #587, vax5.cit.cornell.edu!usf@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu (Rick Dobson) writes: > WHY IS A WORLD SPACE ORGANIZATION NEEDED ?!? >... >One - Companies, Industries and Economies that where >created and supported by the now crumbling era of war >economies, are coming apart at the seams. This is creating >large amounts of unemployed and HUNGRY! people around the >world. A new type of economy is needed to replace this >old form; or industrial and technological nations will have >no choice but to create new and imaginary threats, to >satisfy their hunger and need to expand. If you want to know why people create imaginary threats and wage war, look into some books by the German author Alice Miller, specifically _For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-rearing and the Roots of Violence_ and _The Drama of the Gifted Child_. Also, concerning this war economy stuff, military trade is a relatively small fraction of the weapons producing countries' economies. On the other hand, military spending is a relatively large fraction of spending for many of the countries which don't produce weapons. So if this war economy falls, then the rich countries might be hurt a little in the short term, while the poor countries would benefit greatly, especially in the long term. Besides, at best, weapons are merely useless, a drag on the world economy; at worst, when they are actually put to use, weapons destroy productive capacity, so it is't as though the demise of the war economy would hurt the world as a whole. There may be good reaons to have a world space organization, but this isn't one of them, and it only hurts your main thesis to use this argument. _____________ Dale M. Greer, whose opinions are not to be confused with those of the Center for Space Sciences, U.T. at Dallas, UTSPAN::UTADNX::UTDSSA::GREER "Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." -- J. Danforth Quayle, 11 August, 1989 ------------------------------ Date: 5 Jun 91 00:49:44 GMT From: iggy.GW.Vitalink.COM!widener!hela!aws@lll-winken.llnl.gov (Allen W. Sherzer) Subject: Re: Self-sustaining infrastructures In article <6120@mindlink.bc.ca> Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca (Nick Janow) writes: >> Humans are less reliable than machines? When was the last time your joints >> froze because of a temperature change, or the wires in your head became... >Humans also get diseases, cancer, physical problems, psychological problems, Hardly in the same league. I myself have only needed major repair (surgery) twice in 33 years of life. I have fallen off a motorcycle at 50+MPH without doing any dammage which needed repair by outside means. The operational record of my car (dispite its much younger age) is nowhere near that good. >> Healthy humans are generally self-repairing...machines aren't. >Actually, some are, at least to some extent. Even the old systems on the >Voyager probes were "healed", though by human intervention. ... Yes we are getting good at building electronics which are fault tollerent. How about machines wiht large numbers of moving parts (like satellite repair robots)? How good are they at fixing themselves? Allen -- +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Allen W. Sherzer | DETROIT: Where the weak are killed and eaten. | | aws@iti.org | | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ------------------------------ Date: 5 Jun 91 01:03:40 GMT From: pacbell.com!tandem!netcomsv!tim@ucsd.edu (Tim Richardson) Subject: Re: INFO: Clandestine Mars Observer Launch?? In article <1991Jun5.005715.2105@netcom.COM> tim@netcom.COM (Tim Richardson) writes: = =I have the 2 frames, both in "raw" and in a filtered version which was done =by Loren Carpenter formerly of PIXAR. = =I have just posted this to alt.pictures, including Loren's original comments. =-- OOPS!!! I do not seem to have access to "alt.pictures" and therefore the above statement is a lie. I appologize for that. I will continue to email this to anyone who asks. -- Tim Richardson Technical Network Products, Inc. "techNET" email: tim@netcom.com {apple, amdahl, claris}!netcom!tim ******************************************************************************* "Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty". ------ Benjamin Franklin ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: 2 Jun 91 22:28:53 GMT From: cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!crdgw1!ge-dab!tarpit!bilver!dona@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Don Allen) Subject: INFO: Lunar Transient Phenomena - Paranet File The following text comes from the ParaNet UFO echo. I'm posting it to the NET as it seems to be interesting. NOTE to cross-posted groups..BEFORE you flame me, how about keeping an OPEN MIND? As I do NOT have alot of time available to pursue follow-ups _exclusively_ , please direct all comments to me via mail. The usual hate mail will get merrily dumped to dev/null, so flame away if you must :-) NOTE: This article re-printed without the express written consent or permission of Paranet. ----Begin Included Text------------------------------------------ Message #6490 - INFO.PARANET Date : 29-May-91 17:00 From : ParaNet(sm) Information Service To : All Subject : Lunar Transient Phenomena ParaNet(sm): Freedom of Information for a better world! (C) 1991 ParaNet(sm) Information Service. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** ParaNet File Number: ***************************************************************** With all of the speculation about alien bases on the moon and strange phenomena being seen occurring around the moon, ParaNet did some research on this and found some very interesting artilces pertaining to this phenomena known as Lunar Transient Phenomena. Although it is far from being proof that aliens have set up bases on the moon, it does provide for some interesting reading. During our search, we found a NASA publication titled "Chronological Catalog of Reported Lunar Events." This is contained in NASA Technical Report R-277, published in July, 1968. This document details Lunar Transient Phenomena dating back to 1540. We will provide this document in another file, but for now, we did find an article that details the scientific communities concern now over this strange phenomena. ================================================================= Reprinted from Sky & Telescope Magazine, March, 1991. LUNAR TRANSIENT PHENOMENA by Winifred Sawtell Cameron, La Ranchita de la Luna, 200 Rojo Drive, Sedona, Arizona On January 24, 1956 amateur lunar observer R. Houghton was drawing the crater Liebig on the edge of Mare Humorum when something bright flashed in the field of his 7-inch telescope. The flare came from the nearby crater Cavendish, which was just emerging from the lunar night. Closer inspection revealed that a peak on the crater's eastern wall was repeatedly flashing. Houghton called astronomer Brian Warner and told him what to look for. Warner too saw the flashes and called them "so conspicuous that they were seen immediately." The other peaks in the vicinity remained normal. On the night of November 2-3, 1958, Soviet astronomer Nikolai A. Kozyrev witnessed a strange phenomenon while making spectrograms of the crater Alphonsus with the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory's 50-inch reflector. As he watched through the telescope's guiding eyepiece, he saw the crater's central peak blur and turn an unusual reddish color. The spectrograms confirmed his visual impressions of a volcanic event; they showed an emission spectrum of carbon vapor (S&T: February, 1959, page 184). On July 19, 1969, the Apollo 11 command module had just achieved orbit around the Moon when the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, received word that amateur astronomers reported transient phenomena in the vicinity of the crater Aristarchus. Asked to check out the situation, astronaut Neil Armstrong looked out his window toward the earthlit region and observed an "area that is considerably more illuminated than the surrounding area. It just has -- seems to have a slight amount of fluorescence to it." Although he wasn't sure, Armstrong believed the region was Aristarchus. Accounts of lunar transient phenomena (LTP'S) are not new. Over the past 30 years, I have collected close to 2,000 observations dating from as far back as 557 A.D. Most are visual reports of bright spots, flashes, hazes, and curious temporary colorations of the lunar soil. Reputable observers such as William Herschel, Wilhelm Struve, and E. E. Barnard have seen them. Some LTP's have even been photographed, as well as recorded polarimetrically, photometrically, and spectroscopically. Yet, despite a profusion of observations and six Apollo missions to the Moon, the nature of LTP's remains elusive and their origin an enigma. About 200 of some 30,000 lunar features visible in telescopes have been recorded as LTP sources. Half have shown activity only once. Of the remainder, a mere dozen features contribute three-fourths of all reports. One area, Aristarchus- Herodotus-Schroters Valley, is responsible for fully one-third of the total number sighted. Most LTP activity occurs along the edges of the maria, near volcanic features, like domes, sinuous rilles, and craters with dark halos or floors. But these regions, like the rest of the Moon, have long been considered geologically dead. Circular maria are large, primordial impact basins that were filled with lava about 3 billion years ago. There is evidence, however, that volcanism has occurred in some craters that are perhaps only a million years old. Could the bright flashes, hazes, and colors reported at these sites be proof that the Moon is still active? THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGIN OF LTP'S Possible explanations for LTP's are not lacking. One of the earliest proposals was made by Jack Green of Douglas Advanced Research Laboratories in Huntington Beach, California. While studying the standing levels of water and oil in deep wells, he found that the levels varied in concert with the Moon's anomalistic month (27.55 days, from perigee to perigee), as if the strength of the Moon's tidal force affected the tiny cracks in the bedrock through which oil and water move. Based on this idea, he suggested that LTP's are degassing phenomena brought about by the Earth's tidal effects on the Moon. Maximum degassing, he believed, would occur at the Moon's most eccentric apogees and a minimum at the least eccentric perigees. After analyzing 1,200 observations, however, I could not find such a relationship. Some LTP phenomena may be caused by sunlight interacting with the lunar soil. On October 30, 1963, James Greenacre and Edward Barr observed red spots sparkling on the southwest wall of the crater Aristarchus, the east wall of Schroter's Valley, and a hill between them (S&T: December, 1963, page 316). The phenomena was observed visually by others and recorded spectroscopically as well. At the same lunar phase a month later, Greenacre and Barr saw a similar event. Since sunrise on these features occurs when the Moon is about 11 days old, Greenacre thought that the low lunar Sun was somehow responsible. Indeed, thermoluminesence mat be the cause. Gases in the lunar soil, frozen during the night, could heat up and escape near sunrise. Could high-energy solar particles impacting the Moon also trigger LTP activity? Shortly after a large flare erupted on the Sun in 1963, Zdenek Kopal and Thomas Rackham at Pic du Midi Observatory in southern France photographed a local brightening around the craters Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus. Kopal proposed that energetic particles from the flare caused lunar rocks to fluorescence. Such activity might be expected especially at full phase when the Moon passes through the Earth's magnetosphere, where solar wind particles become trapped. ANALYSIS LTP sightings fall into five categories: brightenings, darkenings, reddish colorations, bluish colorations, and obscurations. When plotted against the lunar anomalistic month, the data show that LTP activity peaks somewhat when the Moon is moving from apogee to perigee, especially about halfway between these points when the Moon is approaching Earth the most rapidly. When the Moon is opposite that point in its orbit, LTP activity is at a deep minimum. Since tidal stressed build from lunar apogee to perigee, one might expect such a pattern. When LTP phenomena are plotted against the Moon's phases, it appears that the most phenomena occur around the time of full Moon (though LTP's have been observed throughout the lunar cycle). Also, more are seen near the sunrise line than the sunset line, though that might be simply because far more people observe the waxing Moon in the evening than the waning Moon after midnight. Gaseous phenomena and anomalistic brightenings seem to peak when the Moon is a waxing crescent. ARE THEY REAL? Some astronomers dismiss all LTP's as either aberrational effects in Earth's atmosphere, changes in lunar lighting conditions, or outright illusions. Such skepticism, however, flies in the face of those who have devoted decades to familiarizing themselves with the Moon, and who very well know these common observational effects. * LTP's are localized phenomena. They are regions or features that experience change while the rest of the Moon remains normal. No doubt some apparent LTP's are caused by atmospheric effects. One is the "ashen glow." Here, sunlight scattered by Earth's clouds is cast onto the Moon's night surface, resulting in LTP's that simply reflect changes in the level of illumination. Another pseudo-LTP concerns bright features fringed with blue (north) and red (south) seen against dark backgrounds. These probably are aberrational effects, namely atmospheric dispersion near the observer, perhaps enhanced by a lingering temperature inversion. Sightings of a starlike point on the Moon may also be disregarded as an LTP. This is the only transient phenomenon I have ever observed myself. But I suspect it is merely a reflection effect from flat facets on areas of large rocky outcrops when the Sun and observer are at just the correct angles. (High magnifications spread the light into an area instead of a point.) Even if we eliminate the three types of non-LTP's discussed here, that still leaves more than 40 percent of the reports unexplained. There is evidence that the remaining LTP's are of lunar origin. a substantial number of sightings were independently confirmed. Professional astronomers have recorded them on film and spectrograms, as well as with photoelectric photometers and polarization equipment. Experiments on the Apollo missions detected trace outgassings of the radioactive elements radon an polonium, suggesting that more substantial amounts of commoner substances were released at the same time. One experiment possibly detected water vapor during the largest moonquake on record (Richter 4). the epicenter of that quake was near or in the large, fractured crater Gauss north of Mare Crisium. To me, this is the one lunar feature that looks as if it had been covered with a thin crust of glass subsequently shattered by an impact. While in lunar orbit, Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 witnessed a flash near the crater Grimaldi west of Oceanus Procellarum. Since he was dark adapted, it's possible he saw a cosmic-ray flash within his own eyeball. But it's also possible he saw a lunar event. In the past, Grimaldi had been responsible for more than a dozen reports of flashes. The crater Plato near Mare Imbrium is another source of flashes. Although many craters responsible for LTP sightings have central peaks with summit craters, Plato has none. So the Moon may not be such a cold, lifeless neighbor after all. It still breathes through the action of LTP's, which in my opinion are probably gentle outgassings of less-than-volcanic proportions. Whatever they are, thanks to the LTP's, the Moon remains a curious place. --The author directs the lunar transient phenomena section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers. SOME POSSIBLE CAUSES OF LTP's --The following is a condensation of remarks by J. Hedley Robinson in the December, 1986, Journal of the British Astronomical Association. At least 11 possible causes of lunar transient phenomena (LTP's) have been discussed. As a stimulus to further discussion, it may be helpful to summarize and comment on these. 1. Tidal. There is a greater stress by the Earth when the Moon is at perigee than at other parts of its orbit. The tidal pull may release strains in the crust and permit the release of trapped gases. The tidal effect of Earth on the Moon is 32.5 times greater than the effect of the Moon on the Earth. 2. Albedo changes due to dust movement. There is essentially no atmosphere on the Moon to raise dust, so this does not seem likely as an explanation. 3. Thermal shock. The lunar surface temperature varies from 125 degrees to -80 degrees Celsius during a two-hour period at both sunrise and sunset, and most LTP's occur within three days of local sunrise or sunset. LTP's could be related to the fact that dissimilar materials expand and contract at differing rates. Although the maria heat and cool more rapidly than other parts of the Moon's surface, at a depth of just 10 cm the rock temperature is constant. Thermal conditions may be regarded as incidental to LTP's rather than the main cause. 4. Magnetic. Solar plasma bombards the lunar surface, even when the Moon is in the Earth's magnetic tail, and the movement of the Moon in and out of the magnetic tail changes the field strength. But charged particles penetrate the lunar surface to only one-third the depth reached by the Sun's thermal rays. If thermal shock is considered to be insufficient to cause LTP phenomena, then the much weaker electromagnetic effect below the surface must also be discounted. 5. Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun might cause fluorescence at visible wavelengths, because there is virtually no atmosphere to shield the lunar surface. I doubt that the effect is strong enough to produce visible reactions as bright, or as large, as the usual LTP's. 6. Solar-wind plasma impacting the surface could produce an electric discharge, but I doubt that the energy involved is great enough to cause an effect visible from Earth. LTP's could, however, be caused by the explosion of chemically reactive molecules and free radicals in small hollows; and solar wind plasma may produce such reactive molecules in rocks. But solar-wind plasma hardly looks like a prime cause. 7. Spectral diffraction from surface grains or irregularities too small for telescopic resolution may cause color. The lunar surface presents many angels to the observer, and these vary with libration in both latitude and longitude as well as with diurnal libration. With the varying lunar surface slopes, many simultaneous diffraction angles should be presented. But if this were the cause of LTP's, the effects should show all over the disk from time to time, whereas they in fact show local preferences. 8. Meteor strikes. These have been claimed frequently. One of the best observed was reported by the Smithsonian Institution near the Apollo 14 site on May 13, 1972, when a meteor impact released an energy equal to that of 1,000 tons of TNT. But meteor strikes cover only a small area on the lunar surface when compared to the size of LTP's. 9. Moonquakes are often deep seated but very weak, with a preference for times of perigee or apogee. There seems to be no obvious connection between the frequency of moonquakes and sightings of LTP phenomena. 10. False color is a regular feature in larger telescopes due to terrestrial atmospheric conditions. This can be guarded against by comparing a suspected LTP event with the appearance of other formations on the lunar surface at the same time, and is well recognized by practiced observers. 11. The piezoelectric effect is well known on Earth, for example when rock strain generates a strong electric field that ionizes the air above the rock, causing a glow. The field moves with the strain source. There are Soviet reports that the magnetic field drops suddenly when underground tension is released. Conclusion. The foregoing indicates courses that our thinking and research might follow. I am of the opinion that tidal strain or thermal shock causing outgassing and producing a piezoelectric effect might be the most plausible explanation. J. Hedley Robinson Helmington, 21 Inverteign Dr. Teignmouth, Devon TQ14 9AF England END PARANET FILE NAME: LUNAR.TXT ----EOF--- -- -* Don Allen *- InterNet: dona@bilver.UUCP // Amiga..for the rest of us. USnail: 1818G Landing Dr, Sanford Fl 32771 \X/ Why use anything else? :^) UUCP: ..uunet!tarpit!bilver!vicstoy!dona 0110 0110 0110 Just say NO! Illuminati < MJ-12|Grudge|TLC|CFR|FED|EEC|Bush > WAR = "New World Order" ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest V13 #691 *******************