Earth and Space News: May 2014

Friday, May 30, 2014

Goldenseal Botanical Illustrations: North American Herb and Wildflower

Summary: Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images depict a spring-flowering, summer-fruiting and fall-seeding North American herb and wildflower.

goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis, Linn.) illustration by Charles F. Millspaugh, American Medicinal Plants (1887), Table 9: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images acclaim artistic aspects of the distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances of North American herbs and wildflowers with appreciable applications for apothecary gardens and herbal medicine.

The Ranunculaceae (from the Latin ranunculus, "little frog") buttercup family member bears the common names goldenseal, orangeroot and yellow Indian paint for natural dyes from roots. Goldenseal carries the common names eyebalm, ground raspberry and Indian turmeric for respective herbal medicinal contributions, foliage configuration comparable to raspberry's and tints like subcontinental spices. Hydrastis canadensis (from the Greek ῠ̔́δωρ [húdōr, "water"] and the Latin canadēnsis ["in Canada"]) scientifically designates goldenseal, described by John Ellis (Jan. 10, 1710-Oct. 15, 1776).

The English equivalents of the goldenseal genus and the buttercup family express the wildflower's existence in watery habitat niches and evoke the frog-like shape of eggs.

Spring-formed foliage that falls autumnally fits into goldenseal life cycles while the wildflower flowers April through May, fruits June through July and seeds August through September.

Goldenseal gets three- to seven-plus-year perennial life cycles, 8- to 14-inch (20.32- to 35.36-centimeter) mature heights and 6- to 12-inch (15.24- to 30.48-centimeter) row-to-row, stem-to-stem spacing. Goldenseal has two or more hairy, red- or yellow-green, straight, terete (from the Latin teres "[cylindrically] rounded") stems with one short-lived basal and two upper leaves. One cauline (from the Greek καυλός [kaulós, "stem"]) leaf is sessile (unstalked, from the Latin sessilis, "sitting") while another inclines from a 2-inch- (5.08-centimeter-) long petiole.

Goldenseal botanical illustrations juggle one 1.18- to 9.84-inch- (3- to 25-centimeter-) wide leaf on one 2-inch- (5.08-centimeter-) long petiole (stalk, from the Latin petiolus, "little foot").

Stalked, not 10-inch- (25.4-centimeter-) long and wide basal, foliage under 3.94 inches (10 centimeters) long and wide know one two- to three-week flower at a time.

Each 0.32- to 0.71-inch- (8- to 18-millimeter-) wide flower lounges atop a 0.19- to 1.49-inch- (5- to 38-millimeter-) long peduncle (from the Latin pedunculus, "little foot"). They maintain three green-white, 0.14- to 0.28-inch- (3.5- to 7-millimeter-) wide sepals; 10 semi-flattened, short-beaked pistils; 40 0.16- to 0.32-inch- (4- to 8-millimeter) green-yellow-anthered, white-filamented stamens. Pistils on stalked, 3.94-plus-inch- (10-plus-centimeter-) long and wide leaves net two-lipped stigmas (pollen-receivers, from the Greek στίγμα [stígma]) and nurture berry-like, green fruit reddening in July.

Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images observe 0.19- to 0.32-inch- (5- to 8-millimeter-) long, 0.06- to 0.19-inch- (1.5- to 5-millimeter-) wide berries with black, moist, shiny seeds.

Goldenseal naturally propagates from 0.09- to 0.18-inch (2.5- to 4.5-millimeter) seeds and knotty, 1.97-inch (5-centimeter) by 0.39-inch (1-centimeter), yellow rhizomes (from the Greek ῥίζα [rhíza, "root"]).

Humus-rich, shaded, well-drained soil pHs 5.4 to 7.8 in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zones 2 through 10 queue up the most sustainable propagations. Goldenseal ranges with amaryllis, asparagus, balsam, barberry, beech, birch, geranium, grapevine, laurel, lilac, lily, mallow, meadowfoam, poppy, rose, soapberry, trillium, violet, walnut, willow-herb and yam families. It survives from Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut through Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota through New York and everywhere in-between and in Ontario, Canada.

Goldenseal botanical illustrations and images teem with roots and five- to nine-lobed, single- to double-toothed shoots that transmit anti-bacterial berberine, blood-regulating hydrastine and muscle-relaxing alkaloids.

Map Showing the Distribution of Hydrastis Canadensis; J.U. Lloyd and C.G. Lloyd, Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. I (1884-1885), Plate IX (page 82): Public Domain, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis, Linn.) illustration by Charles F. Millspaugh, American Medicinal Plants (1887), Table 9: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26077364

Map Showing the Distribution of Hydrastis Canadensis, Plate IX (page 82), J.U. Lloyd and C.G. Lloyd, Drugs and Medicines of North America, Vol. I (1884-1885): Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/b20414535#page/82/mode/1up

For further information:

Cavender, Anthony. 2003. Folk Medicine of Southern Appalachia. Chapel Hill NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee. 1997. Flora of North America. Volume 3: Magnoliophyta: Magnoliidae to Hamamelidae. New York NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.

"Hydrastis canadensis L." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/27100410

"Hydrastis J. Ellis." Tropicos® > Name Search.
Available @ http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40028821

Linnaeus, Carl. 1759. "Hydrastis . . . Ellis." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus II, Editio Decima, Reformata: 1069. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/586988

Linnaeus, Carl. 1759. "Hydrastis canadens." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus II, Editio Decima, Reformata: 1088. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/587007

Lloyd, J.U. (John Uri); and C.G. (Curtis Gates) Lloyd. 1884-1885. “Hydrastis Canadensis. Golden Seal.” Drugs and Medicines of North America: A Publication Devoted to the Historical and Scientific Discussion of the Botany, Pharmacy, Chemistry and Therapeutics of the Medicinal Plants of North America, Their Constituents, Products and Sophistications. Vol. I-Ranunculaceae, no. 1: 76-96. Cincinnati OH: Press of Robert Clarke & Co.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/stream/b20414535#page/76/mode/1up

Millspaugh, Charles F., M.D. 1887. "Hydrastis. Golden-Seal." American Medicinal Plants; An Illustrated and Descriptive Guide to the American Plants Used as Homoeopathic Remedies: Their History, Preparation, Chemistry, and Physiological Effects: 9-1 to 9-3. Illustrated by the Author. New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA: Boericke & Tafel.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26077364

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy Passed 47,400 Feet Above Apollo 11 Site

Summary: Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy passed 47,400 feet above Apollo 11 site 2, the site that edged out four contenders for the first human moon landing site.

North American Rockwell Corporation artist’s concept depicts Apollo 10 Lunar Module’s (center left) descent to 50,000 feet for a close look at Apollo 11 site 2, located in the east central lunar near side’s southwestern Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), while the Command and Service Module (right) remains in lunar orbit; NASA image S69-30520: Public Domain, via NASA Image and Digital Library

On Thursday, May 22, 1969, Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy passed 47,400 feet above Apollo 11 site 2, favored as the prime landing site in July 1969 for the first human visitors to Earth’s moon.

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Kennedy Space Center in central Florida. NASA’s Apollo 10 Press Kit, released Wednesday, May 7, 1969, described the mission as a “dress rehearsal” for Apollo 11 and noted: “Two Apollo 10 astronauts will descend to within eight nautical miles of the Moon’s surface, the closest man has ever been to another celestial body” (page 1).

NASA’s Press Kit also explained: “All aspects of Apollo 10 will duplicate conditions of the lunar landing mission as closely as possible -- Sun angles at Apollo Site 2, the out-and-back flight path to the Moon, and the time line of mission events. Apollo 10 differs from Apollo 11 in that no landing will be made on the Moon’s surface” (page 2).

NASA designated Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930) as commander of the Apollo 10 mission. John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) crewed as command module pilot (CMP) and lunar module pilot (LMP), respectively.

The Apollo 10 spacecraft’s insertion into lunar orbit began with the service propulsion engine’s firing Wednesday, May 21, 1969, at 20:44:54 GMT/UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT), 75 hours 55 minutes 54.0 seconds (075:55:54.0 Ground Elapsed Time GET) after liftoff. At 095:02 GET (Thursday, May 22, at 15:51 UTC; 10:51 a.m. EST, 11:51 a.m. EDT), Commander Stafford and LMP Cernan entered Snoopy to activate the lunar module’s systems. The lunar module undocked from Command and Service Module (CSM) Charlie Brown at 098:11:57 GET (19:00:57 UTC; 2 p.m. EST; 3 p.m. EDT).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Press Kit stated that, among the lunar module’s objectives: “Some 800 seconds of landing radar altitude-measuring data will be gathered as the LM makes two sweeps eight nautical miles above Apollo Landing Site 2” (page 8).

Beginning at 099:46:01.6 GET (20:35:01 UTC; 3:35 p.m. EST, 4:35 p.m. EDT), the lunar module descent propulsion system (DPS) was fired for 27.4 seconds to achieve the lunar module’s descent orbit insertion (DOI) of 60.9 by 8.5 nautical miles. The lunar module made its closest approach to the lunar surface at 100:41:43 GET (21:30:43 UTC; 4:30 p.m. EST, 5:30 p.m. EDT). The low-level pass occurred about 15 degrees prior to Apollo 11 landing site 2, on the southwestern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility). The lunar module logged a pericynthion altitude of 47,400 feet (7.8 nautical miles) above the moon’s surface, according to freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff’s NASA-published history, Apollo by the Numbers (2000: page 76).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Post Launch Mission Operation Report, released May 26, 1969, detailed the accomplishments of the low-level pass: “Numerous photographs of the lunar surface were taken. Some camera malfunctions were reported and although some communications difficulties were experienced, the crew provided a continuous commentary of their observations. The LM landing radar test was executed during the low altitude pass over the surface” (page 4).

Beginning at 100:58:25.93 GET (21:47:25 UTC; 4:47 EST, 5:47 p.m. EDT), a 39.9-second phasing maneuver burn of the lunar module’s descent propulsion system (DPS) set a lead angle equivalent of a lunar landing’s powered ascent cutoff. The ignition placed Snoopy into an elliptical orbit of 190.1 by 12.1 nautical miles. The burn cut off at 100:59:05.88 GET (21:48:05 UTC; 4:48 p.m. EST, 5:48 p.m. EDT). According to NASA’s Apollo 10 Mission Report, the maneuver achieved the lunar module’s apocynthion altitude, farthest distance from the lunar surface, in a phasing orbit of about 8 by 194 nautical miles (1-1).

The three Apollo 10 astronauts splashed down at 192:03:23 GET (Tuesday, May 26, at 16:52:23 GMT; 11:52 p.m. EST, 12:52 p.m. EDT) in the central South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa. From liftoff to splashdown, the astronauts had traveled an estimated distance of 721,250 nautical miles, according to Orloff’s Apollo by the Numbers (page 78).

NASA’s Apollo 10 Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1 gave the astronauts a stellar assessment. The report stated: “Flight crew performance was outstanding. All three crew members remained in excellent health throughout the mission. Their prevailing good spirits were continually evident as they took time from their busy schedule to share their voyage with the world via 19 color television transmissions totalling almost six hours” (page 7).

The takeaway for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy’s pass 47,400 feet above Apollo 11 site 2 is that the mission performed outstandingly as a “dress rehearsal” for NASA’s planned landing of two Apollo 11 astronauts on the lunar surface in July 1969.

TRW Incorporated artist’s concept depicts the 42-second Apollo 10 Lunar Module descent engine’s firing that propels Snoopy back into higher lunar orbit for rendezvous and docking with Command and Service Module Charlie Brown; NASA ID S69-33765: Public Domain, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Cernan, Eugene; and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon: Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. New York NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Dunbar, Brian; and Robert Garner, ed. “Map of Past Lunar Landing Sites.” NASA > Missions > LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter > News and Media Resources. May 13, 2009.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/moonimg_07.html

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Schmidt Crater During May 1969 Lunar Orbit.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 21, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-schmidt.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 14, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-triesnecker.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Jettisoned LM Snoopy Descent Stage Appeared Near Taruntius Crater.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 11, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/jettisoned-lm-snoopy-descent-stage.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Nick Howes and Faulkes Telescope Project Seek Lost Apollo 10 LM Snoopy.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/09/nick-howes-and-faulkes-telescope.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Nick Howes Considers Possible Orbits for Apollo 10 Lunar Module Snoopy." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/nick-howes-considers-possible-orbits_14.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Snoopy and Charlie Brown Are Hugging Each Other in Apollo 10 Docking.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 18, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/05/snoopy-and-charlie-brown-are-hugging.html

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “11.3 Photographic Results.” Apollo 10 Mission Report: 11.3-11.5. MSC-00126. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Spacecraft Center, August 1969.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_MissionReport.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Mission (AS-505) Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1. Report No. M-932-69-10. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, May 26, 1969.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap10fj/pdf/a10-postlaunch-rep.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Mission Report. MSC-00126. Houston TX: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Manned Spacecraft Center, August 1969.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_MissionReport.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 10 Press Kit. Release no. 69-68. May 7, 1969. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1969.
Available @ https://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/a410/A10_PressKit.pdf

Orloff, Richard W. “Apollo 10 The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit.” Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference: 71-88. NASA History Series. NASA SP 4029. Washington DC: NASA Headquarters Office of Policy and Plans, 2000.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029.pdf

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Stafford, Thomas P.; and Michael Cassutt. We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Schmidt Crater During May 1969 Lunar Orbit

Summary: Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Schmidt Crater during lunar orbits conducted in May 1969 as a dress rehearsal for lunar-landing mission Apollo 11.

Photo obtained by the Apollo 10 mission in May 1969 captured Schmidt Crater’s east side in shadow; NASA image as10-34-5162: Public Domain, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Schmidt Crater during the mission’s lunar orbits, which took place in May 1969 as a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on Earth’s moon.

Lunar impact crater Schmidt occupies the lunar near side’s northeastern hemisphere. Schmidt is found near the southwestern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility).

The small crater is located northwest of Statio Tranquillitatis (Tranquility Base), the site where Apollo 11 Commander Neil Alden Armstrong (Aug. 5, 1930-Aug. 25, 2012) and Lunar Module Eagle Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Eugene Aldrin Jr. (born Jan. 20, 1930) became, on July 20, 1969, the first two human moonwalkers. Statio Tranquillitatis is centered at 0.67 degrees south latitude and 23.47 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Schmidt’s center latitude and longitude register at 0.96 degrees south and 18.78 degrees east, respectively.

Schmidt’s northernmost latitude reaches 1.14 degrees north. Its southernmost latitude extends to 0.77 degrees north.

The circular crater registers its easternmost longitude at 18.96 degrees east. Its westernmost longitude occurs at 18.6 degrees east.

The bowl-shaped crater’s diameter measures 11.13 kilometers. Schmidt has a depth of 2.3 kilometers, according to American amateur astronomer Kurt Fisher’s crater database. Fisher’s source Welsh astronomer David William G. Arthur’s 1974 depth determinations for more than 1,900 small lunar craters from measured shadow lengths on Lunar Orbiter IV long-focus pictures.

The crater honors three scientists: Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt, Bernhard Voldemar Schmidt and Otto Yulyevich Schmidt. The IAU gave official approval to the crater’s name in 1935.

German astronomer and selenographer Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (Oct. 25, 1825-Feb. 7, 1884) served as the second permanent director of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA; Greek: Εθνικό Αστεροσκοπείο Αθηνών) from Dec. 16, 1858, until his death. His Chaptre der Gebirge des Mondes (Topographical Chart of the Moon), published in Berlin, Germany, in 1878, presented detailed drawings of the visible lunar surface.

German-Estonian optician Bernhard Voldemar Schmidt (April 11, 1879-Dec. 1, 1935) is credited with inventing the Schmidtspiegel, known as the Schmidt camera or Schmidt telescope, in 1930. His astrophotographic telescope gives wide fields of view with limited distortions. Schmidt’s revolutionary invention combines reflection and refraction in a catadioptric optical system via curved mirrors for reflection (catoptrics) and convex lenses for refraction (dioptrics).

Soviet astronomer, mathematician and Arctic explorer Otto Yulyevich Schmidt (Sept. 30, 1891-Sept. 7, 1956) theorized the formation of Earth from a cloud of dust and gas particles gravitationally captured by the sun and considered other astronomical problems, such as the orbits of double stars. He presented his origin hypothesis for Earth in his 1949 publication, Четыре лекции о теории происхождения Земли (Four Lectures on the Theory of the Origin of the Earth).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 10 Press Kit, released May 7, 1969, described Apollo 10 as a “dress rehearsal for the first manned lunar landing” (page 1). The Apollo 10 Press Kit explained the Apollo 10 mission objectives: “Although Apollo 10 will pass no closer than eight nautical miles from the lunar surface, all other aspects of the mission will be similar to the first lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, now scheduled for July” (page 8).

The Apollo 10 Press Kit noted that, in addition to the absence of a lunar landing, the mission would differ from the Apollo 11 lunar-landing mission in an element of its timeline. The Press Kit explained that, after Lunar Module Snoopy’s rendezvous with Command Module Charlie Brown, an “extra day” would be added to the Apollo 10 mission’s lunar orbit schedule.

Apollo 10 launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) from the Kennedy Space Center’s Complex 39, Pad B, in central Florida. The mission’s crew comprised Commander Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930), Command Module Pilot (CMP) John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930) and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934).

Photographic tasks numbered among the Apollo 10 astronauts’ scheduled activities. The Apollo 10 Press Kit stated: “Still and motion pictures will be made of most spacecraft maneuvers as well as of the lunar surface and of crew activities in the Apollo 10 cabin” (page 34). The astronauts fulfilled their photographic tasks with two 70mm Hasselblad still cameras and two Maurer data acquisition cameras.

The takeaway for Apollo 10’s image of the near side’s Schmidt Crater during the mission’s May 1969 lunar orbits is that the crater is located on the southwestern edge of Mare Tranquillitatis, at a center-to-center distance of 0.29 south and 4-plus degrees east of Statio Tranquillitatis (Tranquility Base), Apollo 11’s July 1969 landing site.

Apollo 11’s Tranquility Base (Statio Tranquillitatis) lies the lunar near side’s southwestern Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), southeast of Schmidt Crater; NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s capture of Apollo 11’s landing site; NASA ID PIA12925: Public Domain, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Photo obtained by the Apollo 10 mission in May 1969 captured Schmidt Crater’s east side in shadow; NASA image as10-34-5162: Public Domain, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as10-34-5162.html

Arthur, D.W.G. (David William). “Lunar Crater Depths From Orbiter IV Long-Focus Photographs.” Icarus, vol. 23, issue 1 (September 1974): 116-133.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1974Icar...23..116A

Baldwin, Ralph B. “Lunar Crater Counts.” The Astronomical Journal, vol. 69, no. 5 (June 1964): 377-392.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/AJ.../0069//0000392.000.html

Cernan, Eugene; and Don Davis. The Last Man on the Moon: Eugene Cernan and America’s Race in Space. New York NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Fisher, Kurt. “Table 1 -- Digitized Apollo Era Lunar Crater Depth and Other Feature Measurements.” Kurt Fisher website.
Available @ http://fisherka.csolutionshosting.net/astronote/plan/craterdepth/html/CraterDepthFeatureName.html

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 10: The NASA Mission Reports. Second edition. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 2000.

International Astronomical Union. “Schmidt.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5374

International Astronomical Union. “Statio Tranquillitatis.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 25, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5684

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. "Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 14, 2014.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2014/05/apollo-10-imaged-near-sides-triesnecker.html

Masursky, Harold; G.W. Colton; and Farouk El-Baz. Apollo Over the Moon: A View From the Orbit. NASA SP-362. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm

O'Connor, J.J. (John Joseph); and E.F. (Edmund Frederick) Robertson. "Otto Yulyevich Schmidt." MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive University of St. Andrews School of Mathematics and Statistics > Biographies Index. July 2011.
Available @ http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Schmidt_Otto.html

Schmidt, J.F. (Johann Friedrich) Julius Schmidt. Charte des Gebirge des Mondes Nach Eigenen Beobachtungen in den Jahren 1840-1874. Berlin, Germany: In commission bei Dietrich Reimer, 1878.
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3195sm.gct00294/

Schmidt, Otto Yulyevich. A Theory of Earth's Origins: Four Lectures. Translated from the Russian by George H. Hanna. Third edition. Moscow, Russia: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1958.

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 10: Facts.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 10.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/orbital-missions/apollo10-facts.cfm

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 10 (AS-505).” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 10.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/orbital-missions/apollo10.cfm

Stafford, Thomas P.; and Michael Cassutt. We Have Capture: Tom Stafford and the Space Race. Washington DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002.

Stratton, F.J.M. (Frederick John Marrian), ed. Vth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. V Proceedings of the 5th General Assembly Paris, France, July 10-17, 1935. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Jan. 1, 1936.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

U.S. Geological Survey. Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2769. Page last modified Nov. 30, 2016. Flagstaff AZ: U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, 2003.
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2769/

Wade, Mark. “Apollo 10.” Astronautix > Encyclopedia Astronautica Index: A.
Available @ http://www.astronautix.com/a/apollo10.html

Whitaker, Ewen A. (Adair). Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit

Summary: Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of 31 lunar orbits performed by Apollo Command Module Charlie Brown in May 1969.

Oblique, northwest-looking view shows Triesnecker Crater (lower center), with intersecting Triesnecker Rilles (right); May 1969 photograph taken from Apollo 10 spacecraft, at a distance of about 135 kilometers (85 statute miles) from Triesnecker Crater; NASA image as10-32-4819: Public Domain, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of the 31 lunar orbits logged by the mission’s command module, Charlie Brown, in May 1969.

Triesnecker Crater occupies the lunar near side’s central, equatorial northern hemisphere. Its distinctive location hugs, to the east, the generally north-south oriented, 200 kilometer-long, channel-like system of rilles (German: “grooves”) known as Rimae Triesnecker.

The prominent impact crater is positioned in northeastern Sinus Medii (Latin: “Bay of the Center”). The moon’s equator and prime meridian (zero degrees longitude) intersect in Sinus Medii.

Triesnecker Crater’s western wall bulges noticeably. A central peak in the rough interior marks the crater’s midpoint.

Triesnecker Crater is centered at 4.18 degrees north latitude, 3.6 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Triesnecker’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 4.59 degrees north and 3.77 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extended to 4.01 degrees east and 3.19 degrees east, respectively. The crater’s diameter spans 24.97 kilometers.

Triesnecker Crater honors Austrian Jesuit astronomer Franz de Paula Triesnecker (April 2, 1745-Jan. 29, 1817). The IAU officially approved the crater’s name in 1935.

Triesnecker Crater parents six named satellites. The IAU officially approved the satellites’ letter designations in 2006.

The largest satellite, Triesnecker D, with a diameter of 5.85 kilometers, lies southeast of its parent crater. F and G, with respective diameters of 3.24 kilometers and 3.52 kilometers, are sited between D and their parent.

E, with a diameter of 4.24 kilometers, is found to the northwest of its parent. Triesnecker E is positioned between its parent and Ukert, a somewhat triangular-shaped impact crater in a rugged strip north of Sinus Medii.

H and J are located southwest of Triesnecker Crater. Their diameters measure 2.55 kilometers and 2.92 kilometers, respectively.

The Apollo 10 mission launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as the Apollo space program’s fourth crewed mission. Apollo 10 numbered as the second Apollo mission, after Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1968 lunar orbits, to orbit the moon.

The firing of the service module’s propulsion engine began Wednesday, May 21, at 20:44:54 UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT), 75 hours 55 minutes 54 seconds (075:55:54.0 Ground Elapsed Time GET) after liftoff. The firing, at an altitude of 95.1 nautical miles above the lunar surface, aimed for the spacecraft’s insertion into an elliptical lunar orbit of 170.0 by 60.2 nautical miles. Lunar orbit insertion ignition lasted 356.1 seconds, with cutoff at 076:01:50.1 GET (Wednesday, May 21 at 20:50:50 UTC; 3:50 p.m. EST, 4:50 p.m. EDT), at an altitude of 61.2 nautical miles above the lunar surface. A 13.9-second maneuver, begun at 080:25:08.1 GET (Thursday, May 22, at 01:14:08 GMT/UTC; Wednesday, May 21, at 8:14 p.m. EST, 9:14 p.m. EDT), circularized the spacecraft's orbit at 61.0 by 59.2 nautical miles.

Apollo 10 was designed as a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11 (Tuesday, July 16, to Wednesday, July 24, 1969), with the exception of an actual lunar landing. As such, Apollo Lunar Module Snoopy undocked from the command module at 098:11:57 GET (Thursday, May 22, 1969, at 19:00:57 GMT/UTC; 2 p.m. EST; 3 p.m. EDT). Commander Stafford and LMP Cernan flew Snoopy to a descent orbit of 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 kilometers) above the lunar surface. After four lunar orbits, the lunar module re-docked at 106:22:02 GET (Friday, May 23, at 03:11:02 GMT/UTC; Thursday, May 22, at 10:11 p.m. EST, 11:11 p.m. EDT).

All three Apollo 10 astronauts were veterans of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Project Gemini. As the Apollo program’s predecessor, Project Gemini began in 1961 and concluded in 1966.

The Apollo 10 mission marked the third spaceflight for Mission Commander Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930) and Command Module Charlie Brown Pilot John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930). Commander Stafford had flown as pilot on Gemini VI (Wednesday, Dec. 15, to Thursday, Dec. 16, 1965) and as command pilot on Gemini IX (Friday, June 3, to Monday, June 6, 1966). CMP Young had flown as pilot on Gemini III (Tuesday, March 23, 1965) and as command pilot on Gemini X (Monday, July 18, to Thursday, July 21, 1966).

Lunar Module Snoopy Pilot Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) claimed his second spaceflight aboard Apollo 10 and his second spaceflight with Thomas Stafford. Cernan’s first spaceflight had taken place, as pilot, aboard Gemini IX.

The mission’s activities included taking photographs of the lunar surface. Photographs were taken from the command module as well as from the lunar module.

The takeaway for Apollo 10’s image of the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of the mission’s 31 lunar orbits is that the black-and-white photograph, taken in May 1969, clearly captures the crater’s distinctive bulge and the adjacent, intersecting channel-like system of Rimae Triesnecker.

Triesnecker Crater with labeled satellite craters; image obtained with Meade LX200 14-inch telescope and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1 camera by David Campbell, principal technical officer, University of Hertfordshire’s Bayfordbury Observatory, East of England region; Feb. 1, 2012: David Campbell (12dstring), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

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