[AZ-Observing] Re: Stuart's Flash

  • From: PHXJeff@xxxxxxx
  • To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:45:07 EST


Joe Orman replied:

>For those who haven't heard, a few weeks ago it was announced that =
>Stuart's Flash was tied to a fresh-looking crater in images from the =
>Clementine lunar orbiter ("NASA Solves Half-Century Old Moon Mystery"):
>http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2003/23.cfm =20
>It has more recently been demonstrated that this crater also appears in =
>pre-1953 images, so it could NOT have been caused by the flash:
>http://skyandtelescope.com/news/current/article_890_1.asp
>I assume the purpose of the ALPO request is to identify other craters in =
>the area that could be associated with the flash.

Thanks for clarifying things Joe. I should have explained more.

From yesterday's ALPO message:

"If any of you want to take part in capturing images of the
region of the Moon where the Stuart flash occurred, under
identical illumination, then the following finder chart
may be useful for TONIGHT for east coast US observers:"

and a few days ago

"The bright feature identified by Buratti and Johnson is not the result of
the phenomenon observed by Leon Stuart on November 15, 1953.  The
Buratti-Johnson Feature has been identified and measured on terrestrial
photographs taken in 1919 and 1937.  In addition, the center of the
circular bright spot on the Stuart photograph lies approximately 32 km WNW
of the Buratti-Johnson Feature.

The Buratti-Johnson Feature has been identified, and its position 
measured,
on a Clementine image mosaic and upon four terrestrial photographs (where 
L
= a linear position fit with 3 coefficients and Q = a quadratic fit with 6
coefficients):

Source (date)                              Longitude  Latitude  RMS
Uncertainty
                                              deg.      deg.        +/-
Clementine Digital Image Model, CD-ROM,
     Vol. 13, BI03N357.jpg (1994, L)         -2.28     +3.91        1.2 km

Mt. Wilson Obs. 100-in Refl.,
     Pease Photo. 97 (1919 SEP 13, L)        -2.32     +3.90        0.9

Lick Obs. 36-in Refr., Moore-Chappell
     Photo. 59 (1937 OCT 22, L)              -2.31     +3.90        1.2

Catalina Obs. 61-in Refl.,
     Photo. 1900 (1966 MAY 28, Q)            -2.29     +3.98        0.3

Catalina Obs. 61-in Refl.,
     Photo. 2139 (1966 JUN 03, Q)            -2.33     +3.89        0.5


MEAN                                         -2.31     +3.92        0.6


The center of the bright spot photographed by Leon Stuart in 1953 was
measured from a scanned image of the vicinity of the flash kindly provided
by J. Stuart and L. Abbey, with a quadratic fit to 8 nearby features 
giving
a longitude of -3.31 deg. and a latitude of +4.30 deg., placing it about 
32
km WNW of the Buratti-Johnson Feature.  As there is only one photograph of
the flash, the accuracy of its position is assessed from the RMS errors of
the 8 control points used, giving +/- 2.2 km.

Thus the position of the flash center is approximately 14 standard
deviations from the mean of the positions of the Buratti-Johnson Feature. 
It has been suggested that the discrepancy is due to atmospheric "seeing"
and/or to the flash fireball being above the lunar surface.  In the first
case, the seeing displacement would have to be about 2/3 the width of the
crater Pallas, an amount inconsistent with the sharpness of features in 
the
photograph and with the +/-2.2-km RMS errors in the apparent positions of
the 8 control points.  In the second case, although terrestrial fireballs
(e.g., from nuclear tests) do rise above the earth's surface, this is due
to their being buoyed by an ascending column of superheated air.  In the
near-vacuum of the moon, the fireball should form an approximate 
hemisphere
centered on the surface at the point of impact.  Also, the flash was very
near the center of the moon's apparent disk, so it would have to be many
kilometers above the lunar surface to show a 32-km displacement.  (J.
Westfall, March 5, 2003)"

Jeff

                          Jeff Hopkins
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