If you fell victim to an April Fool’s prank, then consider that life can play some of the most ironic jokes of all. On April 1, 2011 the Mercury MESSENGER was taking some of its first images from Mercury’s orbit when it accidentally captured the totally unexpected… the ancient Mariner 10.
According to the NASA Press Release, the first reaction of some on the MESSENGER team was that the feature to the left of Mercury’s limb must be an imaging artifact. “It’s the effect of solar neutrinos on the WAC’s CCD,” pronounced Project Scientist Mack Knott. The imaging team was skeptical of this explanation, however, and all Knott could add was “I could explain it to you, but you’d have to understand Feynman diagrams.”
The imaging team brought the anomalous image to the attention of Mission Systems Engineer E. Finn Again, who immediately called an emergency gathering of the Collision Avoidance Review Board. Fortunately, the unusual object in the image did not appear to be in the immediate path of MESSENGER’s next few orbits, but the fact that earlier and subsequent images of the same scene did not include the object prevented a determination of its trajectory.
One of MESSENGER’s Science Team members, Prof. S. T. Rom, recognized the object immediately as Mariner 10, the only spacecraft before MESSENGER to have visited Mercury. Launched in 1973, Mariner 10 flew by Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975 before communication with the probe was lost. Prof. Rom is the only member of the MESSENGER team to have served on the science team of Mariner 10 as well.
The Science Operations Center was filled at the time with MESSENGER team members, and everyone proceeded at once to theorize on why Mariner 10 might appear in an MDIS image of Mercury. Mission design lead Mick Adams quickly calculated that Mariner 10 should not be encountering Mercury on this date. “Mariner 10 and Mercury were in a resonant state that brought the spacecraft by the planet once every two Mercury years. By my calculation, this appearance is 23 days early.”
Guidance and control lead E. C. Shaughn offered that the effect of solar radiation should have substantially altered Mariner 10’s orbit over the past 36 years as a result of solar sailing. Propulsion lead Brecht Engel added that some residual propellant after Mariner 10’s last propulsive maneuver may have outgassed, and that multiple outgassing events may also have contributed to trajectory changes.
MESSENGER’s navigation team members, all of whom are named Williams, plugged these suggestions into their codes. Minutes later they were able to announce to all assembled that Mariner 10 appeared to be in a new resonant state, one synchronous with Earth’s period. The ancient spacecraft is locked into an orbit that swings it by Mercury once every Earth year, on April 1st.
There’s no joke like a cosmic one!
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. And also thanks to H. Levenson!
[/caption]A warm front is the transition zone that marks where a warm air mass starts replacing a cold air mass. Warm fronts tend to move from southwest to southeast. Normally the air behind a warm front is warmer than the air in front of it. Normally when a warm front passes through an area the air will get warmer and more humid. Warm fronts signal significant changes in the weather. Here are some of the weather signs that appear as a warm front passes over a region.
First before the warm front arrives the pressure in area start to steadily decrease and temperatures remain cool. The winds tend to blow south to southeast in the northern hemisphere and north to northeast in the southern hemisphere. The precipitation is normally rain, sleet, or snow. Common cloud types that appear would various types of stratus, cumulus, and nimbus clouds. The dew point also rises steadily
While the front is passing through a region temperatures start to warm rapidly. The atmospheric pressure in the area that was dropping starts to level off. The winds become variable and precipitation turns into a light drizzle. Clouds are mostly stratus type clouds formations. The dew point then starts to level off.
After the warm front passes conditions completely reverse. The atmospheric pressure rises slightly before falling. The temperatures are warmer then they level off. The winds in the northern hemisphere blow south-southwest in the northern hemisphere and north-northwest in the southern hemisphere. Cloudy conditions start to clear with only cumulonimbus and stratus clouds. The dew point rises then levels off.
Knowing about how warm fronts work gives a better understanding of how pressure systems interact with geography to create weather. Looking at warm fronts we learn that they are the transition zone between warm humid air masses and cool, dry air masses. We know that these masses interact in a cycle of rising and falling air that alters the pressure of atmosphere causing changes in weather.
We have written many articles about warm front for Universe Today. Here’s an article about cyclones, and here’s an article about cloud formations.
If you’d like more info on warm front, check out NOAA National Weather Service. And here’s a link to NASA’s Earth Observatory.
We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast all about planet Earth. Listen here, Episode 51: Earth.
San Francisco Fog. Image Credit: Wikimedia User, Mila Zinkova
Fog is a natural weather conditions that can cause visibility to become zero. It can cause accidents on normally safe roads and is such a serious weather condition that schools delay the start of the day until the sun burns it off. So how does fog form? First it is important to understand that fog is basically a cloud on the ground. This means like clouds it is a collection of tiny water droplets formed when evaporated water is cooled. The way it is cooled determines how fog is formed.
The first way that fog is formed is by infrared cooling. Infrared cooling happens due to the change of seasons from summer to fall and winter. During the summer the ground absorbs solar radiation. As air passes over it is made warm and moist. When the seasons change this mass of warm moist air collides with the cooler that is now prevalent. This cause is the water vapor in the air mass to condense quickly and fog is formed. This fog is often called radiation fog due to the way it forms. This kind is the most common type of fog. It also happens when an unseasonable day of warm weather combined with high humidity is followed by dropping temperatures
The next way that fog forms is through advection. Advection is wind driven fog formation. In this case warm air is pushed by winds across a cool surface where it condenses into fog. There are also other kinds of fog like hail fog or freezing fog. Each of these conditions is where condensed water droplets are cooled to the point of freezing. There is also fog formed over bodies of water. One type is sea smoke. This is a type of fog that forms when cool air passes over a warm body of water or moist land.
In general we see that fog is formed whenever there is a temperature difference between the ground and the air. When the humidity is high enough and there is enough water vapor or moisture fog is sure to form. However the kind of fog and how long is last and its effects will depends on the different conditions mentioned. One interesting kind of fog actually helps to make snow melt faster.
We have written many related articles for Universe Today. Here’s an article about stratus clouds, and here’s an article about acid rain.
A galaxy far, far away - long. long ago. UDFy-38135539 - the confirmed most distant observed object, where UDF stands for (Hubble) Ultra-Deep Field.
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The universe is a big place – and getting bigger all the time – so at a large scale all unbound structures are all moving away from each other. So when we look out at distant objects, we need to remind ourselves that not only are we seeing them as they appeared in the past, when the light that hits our eyes first left them, but also that they are no longer in that location where they appear to be.
This issue reaches an extreme when we consider observations of the first luminous stars and galaxies – with the galaxy UDFy-38135539 currently holding the record as the most distant object observed and one of the youngest, existing 13.1 billion years ago – although UDFj-39546284 may be the next contender at 13.2 billion years old, subject to further spectroscopic confirmation.
UDFy-38135539 has a redshift (z) of 10 and provides no measurable light at visible wavelengths. Although light from it took 13.1 billion years ago to reach us – it is not correct to say that it is 13.1 billion light years away. In that intervening period, both it and us have moved further away from each other.
So not only is it now further away than it appears, but when the light that we see now was first emitted, it and the location that we now occupy were much closer together than 13.1 billion light years. For this reason it appears larger, but much dimmer than it would appear in a static universe – where it might genuinely be 13.1 billion light years away.
So we need to clarify UDFy-38135539’s distance as a comoving distance (calculated from its apparent distance and the assumed expansion rate of the universe). This calculation would represent the proper distance between us and it – as if a tape measure could be right now instantaneously laid down between us and it.
This distance works out to be about 30 billion light years. But we are just guessing that UDFy-38135539 is still there – more likely it has merged with other young galaxies – perhaps becoming part of a huge spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way, which itself contains stars that are over 13 billion years old.
The observable - or inferred - universe. Even this may just be a small component of the whole ball game. At this scale, our immediate galactic neighborhood, the Virgo Supercluster, is too small to be seen. And it is extremely unlikely that it represents the center of the universe. Credit: Azcolvin429.
It is generally said that the comoving distance to the particles that emitted the cosmic microwave background is about 45.7 billion light years away – even though the photons those particles emitted have only been traveling for almost 13.7 billion years. Similarly, by inference, the absolute edge of the observable universe is 46.6 billion light years away.
However, you can’t conclude that this is the actual size of the universe – nor should you conclude that the cosmic microwave background has a distant origin. Your coffee cup may contain particles that originally emitted the cosmic microwave background – and the photons they emitted may be 45.7 billion light years away now – perhaps just now being collected by alien astronomers who will hence have their own 46.6 billion light year radius universe to infer – most of which they can’t directly observe either.
All universal residents have to infer the scale of the universe from the age of the photons that come to us and the other information that they carry. And this will always be historical information.
From Earth we can’t expect to ever come to know about anything that is happening right now in objects that are more distant than a comoving distance of around 16 billion light years, being the cosmic event horizon (equivalent to a redshift of around z = 1.8).
This is because those objects are right now receding from us at faster than the speed of light, even though we may continue receiving updated historical data about them for many billion of years to come – until they become so redshifted as to appear to wink out of existence.
Recipe for a pair instability supernova. It is hypothesised that in extremely massive stars, gamma rays radiating from the core become so energetic that they can undergo pair production after interaction with a nucleus. Essentially, the gamma ray creates a paired particle and antiparticle (commonly an electron and a positron). The loss of radiation pressure as gamma rays convert to particles results in gravitational collapse of the star's core - and kaboom! Credit: chandra.harvard.edu
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When high mass stars end their lives, they explode in monumental supernovae. But, when the most massive of these monsters die, theory has predicted that they may not even reveal as much as a whimper as their massive cores implode. Instead, the implosion occurs so quickly, that the rebound and all photons created during it, are immediately swallowed into the newly formed black hole. Estimates have suggested that as much as 20% of stars that are massive enough to form supernovae collapse directly into a black hole without an explosion. These “failed supernovae” would simply disappear from the sky leaving such predictions seemingly impossible to verify. But a new paper explores the potential for neutrinos, subatomic particles that rarely interact with normal matter, could escape during the collapse, and be detected, heralding the death of a giant.
Presently, only one supernova has been detected by its neutrinos. This was supernova 1987a, a relatively close supernova which occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own. When this star exploded, the neutrinos escaped the surface of the star and reached detectors on Earth three hours before the shockwave reached the surface, producing a visible brightening. Yet despite the enormity of the eruption, only 24 neutrinos (or more precisely, electron anti-neutrinos), were detected between three detectors.
The further away an event is, the more its neutrinos will be spread out, which in turn, decreases the flux at the detector. With current detectors, the expectation is that they are large enough to detect supernovae events around a rate of 1-3 per century all originating from within the Milky Way and our satellites. But as with most astronomy, the detection radius can be increased with larger detectors. The current generation uses detectors with masses on the order of kilotons of detecting fluid, but proposed detectors would increase this to megatons, pushing the sphere of detectability to as much as 6.5 million light years, which would include our nearest large neighbor, the Andromeda galaxy. With such enhanced capabilities, detectors would be expected to find neutrino bursts on the order of once per decade.
Assuming the calculations are correct and that 20% of supernova implode directly, this means that such gargantuan detectors could detect 1-2 failed supernovae per century. Fortunately, this is slightly enhanced due to the extra mass of the star, which would make the total energy of the event higher, and while this wouldn’t escape as light, would correspond to an increased neutrino output. Thus, the detection sphere could be pushed out to potentially 13 million lightyears, which would incorporate several galaxies with high rates of star formation and consequently, supernoave.
While this puts the potential for detections of failed supernovae on the radar, a bigger problem remains. Say neutrino detectors record a sudden burst of neutrinos. With typical supernovae, this detection would be quickly followed with the optical detection of a supernova, but with a failed supernova, the followup would be absent. The neutrino burst is the beginning and end of the story, which could not initially positively define such an event as different from other supernovae, such as those that form neutron stars.
To tease out the subtle differences, the team modeled the supernovae to examine the energies and durations involved. When comparing failed supernovae to ones forming neutron stars, they predicted that the failed supernovae neutrino bursts would have shorter durations (~1 second) than ones forming neutron stars (~10 seconds). Additionally, the energy imparted in the collision that makes up the detection would be higher for failed supernovae (up to 56 MeV vs 33 MeV). This difference could potentially discriminate between the two types.
KK 246 - A dwarf galaxy isolated in the Local Void
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The vast majority of galaxies exist in clusters. These clusters are joined on larger scales by filaments and sheets of galaxies, between which, gigantic galactic voids are nearly entirely free of galaxies. These voids are often hundreds of million of light years across. Only rarely does a lonely galaxy break the emptiness. Our own Milky Way rests in one of these large sheets which borders the Local Void which is nearly 200 million light years across. In that emptiness, there have been tentative identifications of up to sixteen galaxies, but only one has been confirmed to actually be at a distance that places it within the void.
This dwarf galaxy is ESO 461-36 and has been the target of recent study. As expected of galaxies within the void, ESO 461-36 is exceptionally isolated with no galaxies discovered within 10 million light years.
What is surprising for such a lonely galaxy is that when astronomers compared the stellar disc of the galaxy with a mapping of hydrogen gas, the gas disc was tilted by as much as 55°. The team proposes that this may be due to a bar within the galaxy acting as a funnel along which gas could accrete onto the main disc. Another option is that this galaxy was recently involved in a small scale merger. The tidal pull of even a small satellite could potentially draw the gas into a different orbit.
This disc of gas is also unusually extended, being several times as large as the visual portion of the galaxy. While intergalactic space is an excellent vacuum, compared to the space within voids it is a relatively dense environment. This extreme under-density may contribute to the puffing up of the gaseous disc, but with the rarity of void galaxies, there is precious little to which astronomers can compare.
Compared with other dwarf galaxies, ESO 461-36 is also exceptionally dim. To measure brightness, astronomers generally use a measure known as the mass to light ratio in which the mass of the galaxy, in solar masses, is divided by the total luminosity, again using the Sun as a baseline. Typical galaxies have mass to light ratios between 2 and 10. Common dwarf galaxies can have ratios into the 30’s. But ESO 461-36 has a ratio of 89, making it among the dimmest galaxies known.
Eventually, astronomers seek to discover more void galaxies. Not only do such galaxies serve as interesting test beds for the understanding of galactic evolution in secular environments, but they also serve as tests for cosmological models. In particular the ΛCDM model predicts that there should be far more galaxies scattered in the voids than are observed. Future observations could help to resolve such discrepancies.
Shuttle orbiter would be displayed like In Flight at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Credit: KSC Visitor Complex
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‘In Flight’ …. That’s the heart of the dramatic plan to showcase a Space Shuttle Orbiter being proposed by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC) as they seek to win the heated competition to become the permanent new home to one of NASA’s three soon to be retiredOrbiters.
Honoring the past, embracing the future of human spaceflight and celebrating the spirit of human determination; this is the new theme planned by the Visitor Complex at Kennedy so that guests of all ages will feel like they are embarking on an interactive space expedition. See the ‘In Flight’ graphic illustration above.
Some 21 science centers and museums across the US are bidding for the once in a lifetime chance to house NASA’s surviving shuttle orbiters; Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.
“The Kennedy Space Center is the home of the Space Shuttle unlike all the other places,” said Bill Moore, Chief Operating Officer of KSCVC. I spoke to Moore at KSC in an exclusive interview for Universe Today.
“All of the shuttle missions have launched from here, not anywhere else. So Kennedy is their home. And they all eventually come back here at the end of each mission. So we have a compelling story to tell about their history at KSC and the future.”
Shuttle Endeavour and the White Room
Shuttle orbiter display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will include many shuttle artifacts, including the White Room - shown here attached to shuttle Endeavour. Astronauts walk
through the white room to enter the shuttle crew cabin. Credit: Ken Kremer
The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C., has long been expected to be picked as the retirement home for Space Shuttle Discovery, the oldest orbiter. That leaves Atlantis and Endeavour remaining in the bidding war. Since the Smithsonian currently displays the shuttle Enterprise, that unflown orbiter would also be up for grabs by another venue.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will decide the final site selections. He is scheduled to announce the winner of the nationwide competition on April 12, which is the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight (STS-1) by Columbia on April, 12, 1981.
Another location that plays a pivoital role in the U.S. space program is NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, home to Mission Control. Johnson Space Center is also home base for the shuttle astronauts and houses the facilities where they train for space missions. The Johnson Visitor Center – Space Center Houston – has proposed a 53,000 square foot pavilion with interactive exhibits.
The proposed new 53,000-square-foot space shuttle exhibit located at the Visitor Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston will be an interactive, educational experience that encourages student interest and commitment to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. NASA’s Johnson Space Center plays a vital role in the US Space program. Johnson is home to Mission Control, the shuttle astronauts and the astronauts training base. Credit: Space Center Houston
Many of those who work on space projects feel strongly that two of the orbiters should unquestionably be awarded to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the Johnson Space Center JSC) since these are the two locations most intimately involved with the Space Shuttle program. All the crews were trained at JSC and blasted off to space from KSC.
Among the other contenders in the running to house an orbiter are; the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City; the Adler Planetarium in Chicago; the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio; the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama; the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The Adler envisions a dynamic exhibition of the Space Shuttle Orbiter in which visitors will have an opportunity to get up close to this national treasure. Proposed exhibition elements including a simulator will help families experience space exploration first-hand. Credit: Adler Planetarium
At the Kennedy Visitor Complex, a brand new 64,000 square-foot hall would be constructed to display the orbiter “In Flight”. The exhibit would engage viewers in an up close experience to see how the vehicle actually worked in space and also feature its major accomplishments; such as building the International Space Station (ISS) and upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope.
The orbiter home is projected to cost some $100 million and would be the marquee element of the master plan entailing a transformative overhaul of the entire visitor complex at Kennedy, according to Moore.
The KSCVC concept is outlined in a thick book with extensively detailed story boards and drawings. Clearly, a lot of hard work and thought has gone into designing KSCVC’s proposal to house an orbiter and integrate it with a complete renovation and update of the spaceport tour facilities. The goal is to satisfy the interests of the whole family- not just hard core space geeks.
“We (KSCVC) will display the orbiter tilted, like it is flying in space and at work. Because that’s the way people think about the orbiter – working in space. Not sitting on the ground on three wheels,” Moore explained to me.
“So, our job at KSC is to show the shuttle’s working time as it is flying in space. The payload bay doors will be open and the robotic arm will be extended. Some type of cargo will be inside. We will also show the Hubble and the ISS with models, giant video screens and murals, because we think that’s key to understanding the role of the shuttle.”
Tilted Endeavour 'In Flight'
This tilted view of Space Shuttle Endeavour ‘In Flight’ may give an impression of what visitors might experience in the shuttle orbiter exhibit planned by the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex if they are selected as a permanent home for the retired vehicle. I snapped this photo inside the Vehicle Assembly Building while Endeavour was vertically tilted and being hoisted by cables in mid-air. The photo has been rotated 90 degrees to look as though it were horizontal. Credit: Ken Kremer
Moore told me that this will be the largest building ever constructed at KSCVC, even bigger than the popular Shuttle Launch Experience completed a few years back.
“When people come into the exhibit, their first view will be to see the orbiter as though someone would see it by looking out from the ISS, up against a gorgeous backdrop of the Earth, the Sky and the Universe.”
“The point is to make you believe that you are actually seeing the orbiter in space. Visitors will be able to view the orbiter from many different angles,” said Moore.
The shuttle will be shown as it really looks and is flown with the heat shield tiles, with all its scorch marks, pits, scars and imperfections.
“We do not want the orbiter to be polished to a pristine state,” Moore stated firmly.
“We want to expose as many people as possible from around the world to this wonderful vehicle and to what’s happened up there in space.”
“The vehicle is just part of the story. The story is much bigger.
Historic Final Landing of Space Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery concluded her magnificent final journey with a safe landing on March 9, 2011 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery is the first shuttle to be retired and will likely be housed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Credit: Ken Kremer
“The purpose of the display building is that we want to show the whole story of what the shuttle has done and all the major milestones. The people who processed and cared for the orbiters are also part of the story,” Moore amplified.
“We will remember and show the story of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, what we learned from the accidents and then fixed lots of issues to get to a better flight system.”
I asked Moore, when will the exhibit open ? “I would like to open the exhibit by mid to late 2013,” he replied.
The orbiter will be showcased with components from the shuttle’s history. “We have the beanie cap, the white room and a fairly large collection of many other artifacts, parts and items beyond just the orbiter that will be used to tell the story of the shuttle program.”
“The shuttle story covers 30 remarkable years,” said Moore.
Only two flights remain until the shuttles are forcibly retired for lack of many and some say willpower to continue exploring.
The final flight of Endeavour on the STS-134 mission is set for April 19. Atlantis is honored with the shuttle programs very last mission, STS-135, slated for late June 2011.
Discovery just landed on her historic final mission on March 9 – a thrilling and bittersweet experience for all who work and report on the shuttle program. Discovery is being decommissioned and now belongs to history although she has a lot of life left in her.
Stay tuned for the April 12 announcement of the Orbiter homes selected.
Space Shuttle Atlantis at Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center.
Atlantis will blast off on the final mission of the shuttle era in late June 2011. Credit: Ken KremerSpace Shuttle at Intrepid. The Intrepid states it has plenty of room at Pier 86 to house a space shuttle. The shuttle would be displayed in a dedicated building with plenty of viewing platforms to give guests an up close look into one of these orbiters. Credit: Intrepid MuseumThe National Museum of the United States Air Force is in the midst of a multi-phase, long-term expansion plan. The next major program initiative is a new Space Gallery which would house the orbiter in a new climate controlled Iindoor display hanger. The Air Force is most interested in Atlantis due to it being the primary Air Force/Department of Defense shuttle. Atlantis has included more than 30 Air Force astronauts among its crews. The Air Force and DoD also play critical roles in shuttle launch and recovery operations in a continuous, decades-long partnership with NASA. Credit: USAFThe proposed Shuttle Gallery at the Seattle Museum of Flight features a glass room for the Space Shuttle with a view of the stars. Credit: Seattle Museum of Flight
The Sun, as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory during an 'eclipse' spacecraft slips behind Earth. Credit: NASA/SDO
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It looks like something is eating the Sun in recent pictures from the Solar Dynamics Observatory — and in recent SDO videos, the Sun suddenly disappears! What is going on? Could it be aliens, Planet X, or the Great Galactic Ghoul? Nope, just orbital mechanics and syzygy (an alignment of three celestial objects). At this time of year the Sun, Earth, and the SDO spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit line up, creating syzygencially spectacular Sun-Earth eclipses. The folks from SDO explain it this way:
“Twice a year, SDO enters an eclipse season where the spacecraft slips behind Earth for up to 72 minutes a day. Unlike the crisp shadow one sees on the sun during a lunar eclipse, Earth’s shadow has a variegated edge due to its atmosphere, which blocks the sun light to different degrees depending on its density. Also, light from brighter spots on the sun may make it through, which is why some solar features extend low into Earth’s shadow.”
This video shows how the alignment works:
Here’s a sped-up video of what SDO sees from space:
A lithograph published in the New York Sun newspaper in 1835 showing life on the Moon. Credit: Wikipedia
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Say the words “Moon Hoax” these days, and everyone thinks you are talking about the people who don’t believe the Apollo astronauts ever went to the Moon. But back in 1835 there was the original Moon hoax that thousands of people fell for, despite the tall tale being complete fiction. A series of articles were published in the New York Sun newspaper reporting incredible new astronomical observations of the Moon supposedly made by astronomer Sir John Herschel during an observing run at the Cape of Good Hope with his powerful new telescope. Detailed descriptions of winged beings, plants, animals and a sapphire temple increased sales and subscriptions to the fledgling newspaper.
Here’s a selection from one of the articles:
“We counted three parties of these creatures, of twelve, nine and fifteen in each, walking erect towards a small wood… Certainly they were like human beings, for their wings had now disappeared and their attitude in walking was both erect and dignified… About half of the first party had passed beyond our canvas; but of all the others we had perfectly distinct and deliberate view. They averaged four feet in height, were covered, except on the face, with short and glossy copper-colored hair, and had wings composed of a thin membrane, without hair, lying snugly upon their backs from the top of the shoulders to the calves of their legs.”
The descriptions were allegedly reprinted from the nonexistent Edinburgh Journal of Science, and only several weeks after the articles were published did questions arise about the truth of these tales. The newspaper did not issue a retraction back then, and now, even over 175 years later has not issued a full retraction of it, either.
It is said that Herschel was initially amused by the hoax, noting that his own real observations could never be as exciting. But he became annoyed later when he had to answer questions from people who believed the hoax was serious.
To be honest, I had not heard of this hoax until it was discussed by professor Rob Knop in today’s 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. He does a great job telling the story, so it is definitely worth a listen.
How is the James Webb Space Telescope different than the Hubble Space Telescope? What will JWST be looking for when it begins operating? In this short video, NASA astrophysicist Dr. Amber Straughn answers questions, and offers facts and images to explain what the Webb Space Telescope will tell us about the cosmos.
